I had read something somewhere about pardons needing to specify crimes, but didn't know if it was true or not. I don't think Ford listed every offense Nixon was supposedly guilty of (who knew what they were, exactly?), and I know blanket pardons have been offered (if memory serves Carter pardoned all the draft dodgers who fled to Canada or otherwise avoided service after the war in Vietnam was long over). Again, I'm not sure how specific they were, but who really wanted to go on prosecuting the draft dodgers in the late '70's?Reports that Cipollone and others told Trump he should not pardon himself, his family or any GOP lawmakers in a prospective manner UNLESS HE WAS PREPARED TO LIST SPECIFIC CRIMES. i.e they understand the legal vulnerability of a "blanket" pardon for any and all crimes.
— Harry Litman (@harrylitman) January 19, 2021
If Trump had pardoned himself or his children, how would he do it, except to write a "Get Out of Jail Free!" card pardon. The more I thought about it, the more I thought Trump wouldn't be able to put his pen to a document that listed, even in vague and general terms, the crimes which he or his children (or children's spouses) might be guilty of and could not be prosecuted for hereafter. I accept that, in part, Trump decided not to pardon himself and his family because of the Senate impeachment trial. And here I pause to wonder why I ever thought Glenn Greenwald wasn't a yutz:
Yeah, it's barely on the topic, but I needed an excuse to post it somewhere. Anyway, I do think Trump finally decided not to issue those pardons in no small part because he'd have to sign documents referring to some crimes, and he continues to insist he not only had great accomplishments, but that every allegation against him is false and malicious.Glenn thinks the reason why Dems and what he calls their "allies" [!!!] impeached Trump was not because he attempted a coup, but to prevent Trump from doing the one thing Glenn wanted. pic.twitter.com/nakrNZD25j
— Dr. emptywheel (@emptywheel) January 19, 2021
And how does he do that if he signs a document admitting he's guilty of those very crimes, but pardoned for them (and yet not innocent of them)? In the end, I just think he couldn't do it.
If Glenn Greenwald was a tenth as important as he thinks he is he'd still be a thousand times more important than he really is.
ReplyDeleteEdward Snowden, probably one of the major information bonanzas to both the Chinese and Putin dictatorships is regularly peddled as some kind of hero. I hope someday we get an accurate estimate how much he gave them.
Snowden is a hero to the same extent Greenwald is a journalist.
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