It’s hard to know where to begin, but at least if Donald Trump can pardon himself, Donny, Eric, Ivanka and Jared from federal criminal acts – and we are not entirely certain if he can – Joe Biden will not have to deal with the gut-wrenching process of presiding over an administration that is prosecuting the former President and his family, a most divisive possibility. If these pardons, and the whole host of co-conspirators and fellow possible felons who are likely to be released, stand, any criminal prosecution will have to flow from state criminal violations. We know New York is very much looking at that entire Trump coterie for both civil and criminal violations.
At least that effort won’t be under Biden’s direct watch. If you want a little more detail on the constitutional right given to the president to pardon or commute, see my November 9th Pardon Me? blog. Oh, and there is also an investigation going on right now into allegations that high profile lawyers were purportedly attempting to negotiate presidential pardons or commutations in exchange for political contributions as determined by the White House. Interesting.
Federal civil fines and penalties are not subject to exoneration under a presidential pardoning right. However, there some very interesting questions that arise by reason of these expected Trump pardons, including a self-pardon… which will include far more related violators than Trump’s immediate family. Trump is telling his associates that he is pardoning because he expects himself, his associates and his family to be subject to a prosecutorial vendetta by the Biden administration, not that he is admitting that there was any criminal activity.
If anything, this expresses Trump’s view that the Department of Justice is subject to the whims of the president, pretty much how he treated former AG Jeff Sessions and how the current AG, William Barr has acted, more like the President’s personal attorney than as head of the department that is supposed to be neutral and charged with upholding the Constitution. Clearly, since that’s the way Trump ran his Attorneys General, as personal lackies, that would be what he would expect Biden to do as well. Under pressure from the President to investigate all that “widespread voter fraud,” even William Barr admitted that he was unaware of any supporting evidence.
Still this notion of what the AG’s role is or should be, as Trump sees it, is most troubling. It’s not as if a Biden-appointed prosecutor can simply jail members of the Trump cabal at will. There is this little intervening variable called a “jury,” which would have to convict by a unanimous decision. So, this raises the obvious question of why Trump feels the necessity of pardoning… unless he fears that a jury would convict because real provable crimes have been committed. Since Trump just might be continuing to commit criminal acts right now in asking state officials to violate their law and override the vote, he will probably wait until the last minute to pardon himself. Max out that benefit!
Next. Assume pardons are issued and stand. Clearly, Trump cannot pardon future federal crimes. Like lying to federal officers or refusing to testify facing a criminal contempt order. Once pardoned, the beneficiary of the pardon has no risk of prosecution for those pardoned actions, and if a blanket pardon is issued and holds, for any past federal criminal acts. One possible consequence might be, if there is a federal prosecution of criminal principals in Trump-related misdeeds who were not pardoned, can those pardoned be called to testify or produce evidence with no risk of self-incrimination against those not pardoned? In other words, without a right to invoke the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, which is no longer possible? And if they refuse and a court orders that testimony, are they committing a new federal crime if they defy that court order? Interesting. The pardon would not extent to that refusal to testify. And wouldn’t that information be fascinating, since it would like kill his and his family’s political future.
We can pretty much expect that when governmental agencies are free to examine the tax returns from Trump, his business and his family, they are quite likely to find “anomalies,” and if those anomalies move out of the world of justifiable tax planning into out and out evasion, therein lie some of Donald Trump greatest potential fears. Particularly, if the information on valuation set forth in those tax returns differs significantly from the information contained on the same assets in bank loan applications. That makes misrepresentations clearly intentional.
But the Trump organization is expert at gaming the system. Bankruptcy is their go-to pressure relief valve for fraudulent business operations or any business operation gone bad. And they are poised to take advantage of any twist of economic advantage, any governmental giveaway or subsidy or any loophole they think they can get away with. Trump properties – hotels and resorts – are easy ways for those seeking to curry favor with the President to funnel money to him through those assets.
While Donald Trump and family have underplayed the pandemic, and he even recently called the continuing evidence of a escalating resurgence of the virus yet again a “hoax,” Trump has not been averse to taking advantage of the very stimulus programs that were enacted to help solve some of the economic pain inflicted by this purported “hoax.” “Sweeping data released by the Small Business Administration on who benefited from pandemic relief programs raises questions about the equitability and distribution of loans intended for small businesses, an initial analysis by NBC News shows.
“The analysis found that properties owned by the Trump Organization as well as the Kushner Companies, owned by the family of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, profited from the program…
“The analysis by NBC News, one of 11 newsrooms that sued for the release of data, also shows:
Over 25 PPP loans worth more than $3.65 million were given to businesses with addresses at Trump and Kushner real estate properties, paying rent to those owners. Fifteen of the properties self-reported that they only kept one job, zero jobs or did not report a number at all.
The loans to Trump and Kushner properties included a $2,164,543 loan to the Triomphe Restaurant Corp., at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York City. The company reported the money didn’t go to keeping any jobs. It later closed.
A company called LB City Inc, which is at Kushner’s Bungalow Hotel in Long Branch, New Jersey, received a loan for $505,552.50 that it used to keep 155 jobs.
Two tenants at 725 5th Avenue, Trump Tower, received more than $100,000 and kept only three jobs.
Four tenants at the Kushner-owned 666 5th Avenue combined received more than $204,000, and retained only six jobs.” NBC News, December 1st.
As Trump pressures GOP election officials and governors to violate their own state statutes and overrule the voters to name Trump-supporting electors, and he has chastised the Republican governor of Georgia for not cancelling the upcoming Senate runoff election, Trump is effectively asking those fellow Republicans to break the law, probably violating criminal statutes, to allow him to continue to rule.
He has suggested he has no plans to attend the Inauguration on January 20th and may instead hold a Trump rally in anticipation of another Trump run for the presidency in 2024. While many in his base will remain loyal, and while he is likely to have a loud social media voice against anyone with an opposing view, the likelihood of a second Trump presidency, in my opinion, is ZERO. Trump’s legacy will probably focus on his quest for permanent power, ignoring the pandemic as he seeks to overturn a legitimate election. Failure was not an option, but he failed miserably.
As Trump fiddles with his thirst for power, ignoring just about everything else except golf outings and Christmas parties, “the country he leads continues to smash coronavirus records. On Wednesday [12/3], the U.S. hit a pair of grim pandemic milestones, reaching new daily highs in hospitalizations and deaths. The country tallied nearly 200,000 new cases, while reporting more than 100,000 virus-related hospitalizations and reaching a new high of 2,760 deaths in a single day. The overall death toll since the pandemic started now stands at more than 273,000 and the pace of deaths in America due to the virus is only quickening.” Slate.com, December 3rd.
I’m Peter Dekom, and I suspect that history will paint Donald J Trump as an evil, most corrupt American president by miles, and a manipulative lying criminal-autocrat in it for one reason and one reason only: himself.
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