It’s Pardon Day At Chez Adventus

Trump extorted Ukraine to pursue charges on Hunter.
Trump's DOJ solicited info from Chinese agent to pursue charges on Hunter.
Trump's DOJ set up a side channel to ingest dirt from Russian spies to pursue charges on Hunter.
Trump's DOJ framed Joe Biden to pursue charges.

— emptywheel (mr. blue sky) (@emptywheel) December 3, 2024

In other news:

Rudy says the pardon is illegal. pic.twitter.com/dVZAWDWZbI

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 2, 2024

Expect to hear this a lot. Reporters and pundits all suffer from short-time memory loss and Trump Derangement Syndome, except not the way Trump and MAGA mean that term:

Like Hunter’s pardon, Flynn’s pardon excused the crimes included in his charging documents (false statements, including false statements about being an unregistered agent of Turkey). While Hunter’s pardon specifically invoked the conduct in his Delaware and Los Angeles dockets, Flynn’s pardon excused conduct reviewed in two jurisdictions, DC and EDVA. Like Hunter’s pardon, which would cover the false statements referral from Congress, Flynn’s pardon would have covered the contradictory sworn statements he made as he tried to renege on his plea deal. But Flynn’s pardon also covered, 

any and all possible offenses arising out of facts and circumstances known to, identified by, or in any manner related to the investigation of the Special Counsel, 

This pardon attempted to excuse any crime based on a fact that once lived in Robert Mueller’s brain or case files. 

As I laid out here, that certainly would have covered referrals from Mueller elsewhere (including to DOD), it might have attempted to pardon crimes in process, if (for example) Flynn’s relationship with Russia developed into something more in the future. Flynn’s pardon, unlike Hunter’s didn’t have an end date, and as a result, if Congress wants to continue to harass Hunter about stuff he just accepted a pardon for, he’ll have less protection than Trump intended Flynn to have.

"But Michael Flynn wasn’t related to Trump!”, shouts the law school grad who failed the Bar Exam. 

Tl;dr; The Hunter pardon is a lot like the Flynn pardon (tho I think Trump TRIED to give Flynn prospective immunity). But if Hunter lied to protect Dad, it was conduct of Dad as private citizen, unlike Flynn, who lied to protect the guy who ultimately pardoned him.

— emptywheel (mr. blue sky) (@emptywheel) December 3, 2024

Fuck it. It's a trope.

Meanwhile, Biden is chuckling all the way to retirement.