Of course, Donald Trump has pardoned Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows and 75 other conspirators of the Jan. 6, 2021, attempted insurrection along with many involved in the so-called fake electors’ scheme to substitute Trump voters for Joe Biden’s in seven states.
If there was no crime on the “day of love” that Trump carries as his memory of the worst violence at the Capitol since 1812, there can be no criminals. Apparently, it is not enough that Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer and chief strategist, Meadows, the former chief of staff, and others that Trump did not even bother to name have not been charged with any federal crime.
Trump wants the crime and any adverse memory simply erased, and so any potential charges had to be eliminated as well – though his pardons cannot extend to state charges. In those states that had mounted cases, Trump instead goes after the prosecutors, the courts, his own perceived immunity, and other pressure campaigns to make them go away.
Trump the Pardoner has freed all convicted of crimes arising from the Capitol riot mounted to keep him in office. Returned to office four years later, he floats new more semi-legal schemes to remain forever, ranging from state election rule interference to continuing public discussions about the possibility of a third term.
More directly, Trump’s actions signal those who would interfere in the next election that they too can be pardoned from any charges that may ensue..
Unlike last week, in which Trump claimed not to know the crypto business fraudster he pardoned despite his business connections with the Trump family, Trump is not disowning his personal ties to Giuliani and company.
Even as this news was emerging, there were whistleblower reports that the Justice Department was preparing partial clemency for Ghislane Maxwell, the convicted pedophile and partner of Jeffrey Epstein. As we know, Maxwell’s chief qualification for eligibility is telling Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has been a personal Trump defense lawyer, that she never saw Trump near any sordid Epstein behavior. That private-made-public interview triggered a transfer for Maxwell to a much easier minimum-security prison where she apparently gets first-class personal treatment from the prison warden. Clearly, Trump will face political backlash over any grant of clemency for Maxwell.
Trump’s Pardon Record
Indeed, Trump 2.0 has far outpaced previous administration in delivering pardons. including his own first term. Between Biden and Trump, more than 4,000 pardons have been issued this year, according to the Justice Department’s office of the pardon attorney, which breaks down pardon statistics by year and administration. Across two terms Trump has now pardoned more than 1,650 people who played significant roles in matters involving him personally, says CNN.
That office is headed by Ed Martin, whose partisan view of the law was too much even for Senate Republicans to consider making him the U.S. Attorney in Washington. The unit’s website says it makes “recommendations to the President that are consistent, unbiased, and uphold the interests of justice” in assessing whether sentences were unfair or inconsistent.
A CNN analysis said that many of the Trump pardons are outwardly political. CNN’s Aaron Blake says the pardons are “transactional” actions to benefit “oodles of people who took illegal or legally dubious action on his behalf.” The analysis suggests that Trump is creating a permission structure in which people will credibly think they cannot be held accountable in federal court, as long as what they’re doing benefits Trump.
Some pardons are more symbolic than practical. Those involved in the 2020 elections plots were never charged with federal crimes. Some face state-level charges, for which Trump cannot pardon them. Others are because Trump or someone in his circle has taken an interest.
Trump appeared to dangle pardons over people who were in positions to provide potentially derogatory information about him. These people included former advisers Roger Stone, Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn – and now the possibility of Ghislane Maxell, whose silence on the Jeffrey Epstein files seems of paramount importance to the White House.
Recent Pardons
Without announcement this week, Trump pardoned Robert Harshbarger Jr., a medication provider and the husband of Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn, who had pleaded guilty to distributing a misbranded kidney drug not approved for the purpose by the Food and Drug Administration.
Until 2018, The congresswoman, also a pharmacist, was a corporate officer and agent for American Inhalation Medication Specialists, the company through which her husband sold the drugs, according to corporate records cited by The New York Times. During her 2020 congressional campaign, she denied to local media that she had any involvement with the company.
A White House official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said that Mr. Harshbarger was not pardoned because of his last name or other affiliations. The official did not respond when asked if Ms. Hashbarger lobbied for the pardon.
Other recent pardons went to Troy Lake, a diesel mechanic who had pleaded guilty to disabling emissions controls intended to regulate the discharge of pollutants; for former NYPD officer Michael McMahon, convicted in relation to his participation in a Chinese government plot to surveil and intimidate a family in New Jersey; former NY Met baseball star Darryl Strawberry, was convicted of tax evasion in the 1990s, and two Tennessee Republicans — the former House speaker and a former top aide — who were scheduled to start prison terms on public corruption charges .
Legally, no one can question presidential authority to issue pardons and commutations. Politically, these include brazen pardons that seem hard to explain or defend without thinking them an abuse of office.
