A writer must “know and have an ever-present consciousness that this world is a world of fools and rogues… tormented with envy, consumed with vanity; selfish, false, cruel, cursed with illusions… He should free himself of all doctrines, theories, etiquettes, politics…” —Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?). “The nobility of the writer's occupation lies in resisting oppression, thus in accepting isolation” —Albert Camus (1913-1960). “What are you gonna do” —Bertha Brown (1895-1987).
“Donald Trump’s pardon for his former national security adviser Michael Flynn has ignited speculation that he may be planning a broader swath of pardons in his last weeks in office, especially given – most controversially – his own previously expressed view that it is within his own power to pardon himself. Trump’s pardon of Flynn, who was convicted of lying to the FBI, follows his commutation of the jail sentence of his ally and self-professed political dirty trickster, Roger Stone. The renewed speculation, however, raises numerous issues, both legal and practical.
“Questions about whether Trump is considering pardons for associates, members of his family and even himself have been driven in large part by his own apparent obsession with the issue, which has been well documented since at least 2017.
“According to a CNN report earlier this month, which featured interviews with unnamed former aides, Trump has asked both about self-pardons as well as pardons for his family, even asking if he could issue pardons pre-emptively for things people could be charged with in the future. ‘Once he learned about it, he was obsessed with the power of pardons,’ the former official told the cable network. ‘I always thought he also liked it because it was a way to do a favour.’
“Trump himself has been explicit about his view he can pardon himself, tweeting in 2018: ‘As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?’ As legal experts have made clear as well in recent days, Trump is not facing any active criminal investigation, with the attorney general, William Barr, following US Department of Justice guidelines that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime…” (The Guardian).
“Donald Trump’s pardon for his former national security adviser Michael Flynn has ignited speculation that he may be planning a broader swath of pardons in his last weeks in office, especially given – most controversially – his own previously expressed view that it is within his own power to pardon himself. Trump’s pardon of Flynn, who was convicted of lying to the FBI, follows his commutation of the jail sentence of his ally and self-professed political dirty trickster, Roger Stone. The renewed speculation, however, raises numerous issues, both legal and practical.
ReplyDelete“Questions about whether Trump is considering pardons for associates, members of his family and even himself have been driven in large part by his own apparent obsession with the issue, which has been well documented since at least 2017.
“According to a CNN report earlier this month, which featured interviews with unnamed former aides, Trump has asked both about self-pardons as well as pardons for his family, even asking if he could issue pardons pre-emptively for things people could be charged with in the future. ‘Once he learned about it, he was obsessed with the power of pardons,’ the former official told the cable network. ‘I always thought he also liked it because it was a way to do a favour.’
“Trump himself has been explicit about his view he can pardon himself, tweeting in 2018: ‘As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?’ As legal experts have made clear as well in recent days, Trump is not facing any active criminal investigation, with the attorney general, William Barr, following US Department of Justice guidelines that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime…” (The Guardian).