In a lawsuit filed this year by Noelle Dunphy, a former employee of Giuliani, she asserts that Giuliani was offering people pardons for $2 million, the money to be split 50/50 between him & Trump…
This is yet another ‘flaw in the system’ brought about by Trump. Yes, he sold pardons. We all know this. It was news in 2021 after the election. Now, he’s flaunting all this in our faces as he again strives to turn our country into a dictatorship.
The way it should work is that when allegations like Kiriakou's were made, the AUSA should have taken the witnesses to a grand jury. Every person who got a pardon from Trump should have been questioned. IMHO they waived any fifth amendment rights they might have had by accepting a pardon. I'd ask them to take lie detector tests.
They still can be taken before grand juries. It needs to be done. All Frumpy pardoned the drug dealer was so he could get his fingers in this guys wife’s twat!
I can definitely see Trump monetizing his pardon power just as he did everything else. I could also see Rudy agreeing to split the take, but I could also see Trump stiffing Rudy on this just as he did on Rudy’s attempt to dig up dirt on the Biden family and Ukraine.
"[T]he chance of the next Republican president being just as corrupt as Trump is far from a remote possibility."
Research Project 2025 to learn what ultra MAGA mega-donors have been developing over the years (decades?) for some future GOP leader. Proj25 is just the latest iteration.
Pardons for Profit Inc along with its board of dictators - Trump, Kushner, and Guliani - should have been thoroughly investigated and reported on years ago. I remember hearing about this criminal scheme at the time in brief whisperings from our few remaining respectable sources of journalism.
It seems as though our fourth estate is operating in an absurd realm of self imposed gag orderdom by trying to hold itself to the same burden of proof as required by a criminal court - a bar so high it is nearly impossible to clear (given you are represented by "good" legal counsel).
Journalism is NOT criminal court and should never act like one (in terms of tipping the scales to the "defendant's" benefit).
As the unofficial investigative arm of our society, our fourth estate can only function as intended when it does its job with integrity, without "fear or favor", and absent a ridiculous expectation of perfection in proving far beyond any doubt whatsoever that a thing did or did not happen.
I do not know whether DOJ has "Trump fatigue." But I would believe that it's prioritizing its investigations & prosecutions of Trump by their degree of overt threat to the Republic. We might not know whether it's already investigating Trump and Giuliani for selling pardons until one or more indictments is unsealed.
The Office of the Pardon Attorney, by the way, is in DOJ, not in the White House. So going directly to the White House to seek a pardon would keep the matter out of the ken of career DOJ lawyers who might well have objected.
Besides DOJ we have a series of agency IGs who have been asleep at the switch. My agency, DOL, was hell on wheels on stuff like the "appearance" of conflicts of interests.
In the final hours of his term, Trump rescinded an executive order he had issued years earlier to bar former White House employees from lobbying the government after they leave their jobs.
The order was rescinded around 1 a.m., just after Mr. Trump issued 143 clemency grants to allies, associates and low-level offenders serving lengthy sentences.
Regardless, people like Mnuchin were employees of agencies -- the Treasury Department. And Financial Disclosure rules were probably violated -- especially by the Trump family.
Daniel EO orders signed by Trump can be rescinded or redone by Biden.
Trump created Schedule F Employees. Employees that were political appointees, to embed in the government as protected civil servants, and to reclassify those who occupied those slots as at will employees.
Biden rescinded that EO with his EO 14003, which he could have used to replace the Trump appointees, thus robbing Trump of a tool, but he didn't he left Trump's virus in place and now we are seeing the results, especially with this Weiss character who begged Garland to appoint him special counsel to prosecute Hunter
EO 13843 titled, “Excepting Administrative Law Judges from the Competitive Service” (83 FR 32755). The E.O. specifies that all appointments of ALJs made on or after July 10, 2018 must be made under Schedule E of the excepted service and acknowledges that such appointments must be made by the head of the hiring agency.
My position was restructured so that new hires were not merit selected. Biden did not cure it because it entails a lousy interpretation from SCOTUS and reinstatement of a hiring "register." . Whereas judges had been hired after a test, an examination of experience and an impartial panel review through OPM, the Office of Personnel Management, now hired under the spoils system.
Wow so now we have regressed to the spoils system. By cure I take it to mean that Biden did not have a permanent remedy, because of a lousy interpration of SCOTUS. What was the SCOTUS interpretation., is it so bad that Biden finds the status quo better than revoking Dubya's EO 13483?
The SEC improperly appointed judges. I begged them to ask the SEC to reappoint them, but they never did. In Lucia v. SEC, SCOTUS found they were unconstitutionally appointed, and hundreds of cases had to be reheard. The Trump administration tried to extend this across many other agencies, and there is still ongoing litigation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucia_v._Securities_and_Exchange_Commission
I've probably told you that the administration's knowledge and view of administrative law has been lacking. This stuff is arcane and has been in a state of flux. The Administrative Procedure Act should be a mini Constitution in cases involving regulations and adjudications by administrative agencies. Biden administration did not do fact finding under the APA in the OSHA vaccine case. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/13/supreme-court-ruling-biden-covid-vaccine-mandates.html
Sarah it is not a fatigue issue. I realize that it is your nature to assume good faith, but the reality is that Merrick Garland is a right winger, despot enabler. Add this tidbit to not even indicting Matt Gaetz, the J6 conspirators in Congress, his decision to try Trump in Aileen Cannons district and then appointing her the Judge,and finally acceding to Trump humping Weiss's plea (pick me coach) indict and convict Hunter Biden.,I am sure there is more that we aren't aware of.
Garland was vetted to Obama by the most audacious right wing senator, at the time, Orrin Hatch R-UT, and worked for the Federalist Society, serving as a moderator.
Nov 28, 2023·edited Nov 28, 2023Liked by Thom Hartmann
Trump is unquestionably the most corrupt office holder (surely president) the US has ever had since July 4th , 1776. Donald Trump would be in jail by now were it not for one thing that all America should keep in mind. Trump did not scam and con all that money from his presidency without help. He need protection from his mob, aka the Republican Party. They made sure he and his henchmen were impeachment-proof. They will not even allow impeachment of corrupt justices.
None of our founding fathers ever considered that so many men and women of dishonor would run for public office, much less be elected. Of course, even for those of us with the IQ of a sack of potatoes had to see the light when George Santos, (or whateverhisnameis) was sworn into office as a legislator, and the GOP did not immediately boot him out once it was clear that he was a fraud.
Trump is the most dishonorable person ever to be sworn in as president. He dishonored those of us who served in uniform especially those who died in the service of their country. In his mind we are all suckers. People who suffered as Vietnam POWs, including Col Larry Guarino USAF (longest held) and his #2 officer in Hanoi, CAPT John McCain USN were"losers" despite their daily heroism in captivity. Trump is a man who respects nobody but people who are a threat to his life or his wealth - just like his idol Alphonse Capone or countless shifty mobsters with whom he and his minions collaborated.
Trump was selling pardons, no doubt. Though chump change when compared with what he was getting for top secret defense information. He told an Australian buddy how close a US sub can get to a Russian sub with being detected. That has to be a top tier secret - or was. Oh, and first we have to detect their subs ... billions of taxpayer money funded development of several technologies involved.
They will ignore it Jeffrey, DOJ/FBI, NSA, DHS, DEA are all "conservative" (read right wing), and staffed by Trump appointees and loyalists, or if not, those that are ideologically and financially sympathetic.
Mr. Hartman. Thank you for bringing up this apparently-forgotten subject. To those who believe the DOJ is likely investigating Trump's many illegal acts; and also say we simply do not know about these investigations yet. I say: You are whistling as you walk past the cemetery.
It occurs to me that there might be some merit in you and Seymour Hersh joining forces on exposés. Maybe also Steve Schmidt and Dennis Kucinich...??? All on Substack.
Step right up---get your red hot presidential pardon! For a mere two million dollars you too can escape the consequences of your crimes!
This is just another aspect of the fact Trump thinks buying your way out of trouble is "normal". To him, it's the right of anyone who has money, especially other people's money.
What to do? You can't shame him, and Rudy is too drunk to care about his own reputation. Still exposure is a good thing. This is another reason to vote for Joe. We know he has a conscience and hopefully future presidents will have one too.
This is one more thing to add to Trump's despicable legacy.
Thom writes: "Predictably, Trump’s AG never replied to the letter and, to this day, it doesn’t seem there are any active investigations of pardon-peddling by Trump and Giuliani."
Behold, another example of Merrick Garland being a right winger, despot enabler. Add this tidbit to not even indicting Matt Gaetz, the J6 conspirators in Congress, his decision to try Trump in Aileen Cannons district and then appointing her the Judge,and finally acceding to Trump humping Weiss's plea (pick me coach) indict and convict Hunter Biden.,I am sure there is more that we aren't aware of.
But ameliorating, accommodating, bipartisan, Pollyanna Biden appointed him.
This is yet another ‘flaw in the system’ brought about by Trump. Yes, he sold pardons. We all know this. It was news in 2021 after the election. Now, he’s flaunting all this in our faces as he again strives to turn our country into a dictatorship.
The way it should work is that when allegations like Kiriakou's were made, the AUSA should have taken the witnesses to a grand jury. Every person who got a pardon from Trump should have been questioned. IMHO they waived any fifth amendment rights they might have had by accepting a pardon. I'd ask them to take lie detector tests.
They still can be taken before grand juries. It needs to be done. All Frumpy pardoned the drug dealer was so he could get his fingers in this guys wife’s twat!
I can definitely see Trump monetizing his pardon power just as he did everything else. I could also see Rudy agreeing to split the take, but I could also see Trump stiffing Rudy on this just as he did on Rudy’s attempt to dig up dirt on the Biden family and Ukraine.
"[T]he chance of the next Republican president being just as corrupt as Trump is far from a remote possibility."
Research Project 2025 to learn what ultra MAGA mega-donors have been developing over the years (decades?) for some future GOP leader. Proj25 is just the latest iteration.
Pardons for Profit Inc along with its board of dictators - Trump, Kushner, and Guliani - should have been thoroughly investigated and reported on years ago. I remember hearing about this criminal scheme at the time in brief whisperings from our few remaining respectable sources of journalism.
It seems as though our fourth estate is operating in an absurd realm of self imposed gag orderdom by trying to hold itself to the same burden of proof as required by a criminal court - a bar so high it is nearly impossible to clear (given you are represented by "good" legal counsel).
Journalism is NOT criminal court and should never act like one (in terms of tipping the scales to the "defendant's" benefit).
As the unofficial investigative arm of our society, our fourth estate can only function as intended when it does its job with integrity, without "fear or favor", and absent a ridiculous expectation of perfection in proving far beyond any doubt whatsoever that a thing did or did not happen.
I do not know whether DOJ has "Trump fatigue." But I would believe that it's prioritizing its investigations & prosecutions of Trump by their degree of overt threat to the Republic. We might not know whether it's already investigating Trump and Giuliani for selling pardons until one or more indictments is unsealed.
The Office of the Pardon Attorney, by the way, is in DOJ, not in the White House. So going directly to the White House to seek a pardon would keep the matter out of the ken of career DOJ lawyers who might well have objected.
Besides DOJ we have a series of agency IGs who have been asleep at the switch. My agency, DOL, was hell on wheels on stuff like the "appearance" of conflicts of interests.
In the final hours of his term, Trump rescinded an executive order he had issued years earlier to bar former White House employees from lobbying the government after they leave their jobs.
The order was rescinded around 1 a.m., just after Mr. Trump issued 143 clemency grants to allies, associates and low-level offenders serving lengthy sentences.
Regardless, people like Mnuchin were employees of agencies -- the Treasury Department. And Financial Disclosure rules were probably violated -- especially by the Trump family.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/us/trump-taxes-china.html
Daniel EO orders signed by Trump can be rescinded or redone by Biden.
Trump created Schedule F Employees. Employees that were political appointees, to embed in the government as protected civil servants, and to reclassify those who occupied those slots as at will employees.
Biden rescinded that EO with his EO 14003, which he could have used to replace the Trump appointees, thus robbing Trump of a tool, but he didn't he left Trump's virus in place and now we are seeing the results, especially with this Weiss character who begged Garland to appoint him special counsel to prosecute Hunter
EO 13843 titled, “Excepting Administrative Law Judges from the Competitive Service” (83 FR 32755). The E.O. specifies that all appointments of ALJs made on or after July 10, 2018 must be made under Schedule E of the excepted service and acknowledges that such appointments must be made by the head of the hiring agency.
My position was restructured so that new hires were not merit selected. Biden did not cure it because it entails a lousy interpretation from SCOTUS and reinstatement of a hiring "register." . Whereas judges had been hired after a test, an examination of experience and an impartial panel review through OPM, the Office of Personnel Management, now hired under the spoils system.
Wow so now we have regressed to the spoils system. By cure I take it to mean that Biden did not have a permanent remedy, because of a lousy interpration of SCOTUS. What was the SCOTUS interpretation., is it so bad that Biden finds the status quo better than revoking Dubya's EO 13483?
The SEC improperly appointed judges. I begged them to ask the SEC to reappoint them, but they never did. In Lucia v. SEC, SCOTUS found they were unconstitutionally appointed, and hundreds of cases had to be reheard. The Trump administration tried to extend this across many other agencies, and there is still ongoing litigation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucia_v._Securities_and_Exchange_Commission
I've probably told you that the administration's knowledge and view of administrative law has been lacking. This stuff is arcane and has been in a state of flux. The Administrative Procedure Act should be a mini Constitution in cases involving regulations and adjudications by administrative agencies. Biden administration did not do fact finding under the APA in the OSHA vaccine case. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/13/supreme-court-ruling-biden-covid-vaccine-mandates.html
Same thing in the EPA case. Agencies should, as a matter of self preservation, in an abundance of caution as we say in the trade, hold hearings and establish a factual basis for rulemaking. https://www.eenews.net/articles/supreme-court-rejects-challenge-to-biden-climate-metric/
Sarah it is not a fatigue issue. I realize that it is your nature to assume good faith, but the reality is that Merrick Garland is a right winger, despot enabler. Add this tidbit to not even indicting Matt Gaetz, the J6 conspirators in Congress, his decision to try Trump in Aileen Cannons district and then appointing her the Judge,and finally acceding to Trump humping Weiss's plea (pick me coach) indict and convict Hunter Biden.,I am sure there is more that we aren't aware of.
Garland was vetted to Obama by the most audacious right wing senator, at the time, Orrin Hatch R-UT, and worked for the Federalist Society, serving as a moderator.
Donald tRump is a criminal and always has been. He received excellent tutoring in criminality by mob lawyer, Roy Kohn.
Why is the DOJ tired of bringing more investigations and charges against the most corrupt president in all of American history?
This really means that at least half of the DOJ is corrupt - starting at the top. Just look at SCOTUS! & Merrick Garland should NEVER have been AG!
We’re losing our “government for the People” to the rich old boys club. Aargh!
Trump is unquestionably the most corrupt office holder (surely president) the US has ever had since July 4th , 1776. Donald Trump would be in jail by now were it not for one thing that all America should keep in mind. Trump did not scam and con all that money from his presidency without help. He need protection from his mob, aka the Republican Party. They made sure he and his henchmen were impeachment-proof. They will not even allow impeachment of corrupt justices.
None of our founding fathers ever considered that so many men and women of dishonor would run for public office, much less be elected. Of course, even for those of us with the IQ of a sack of potatoes had to see the light when George Santos, (or whateverhisnameis) was sworn into office as a legislator, and the GOP did not immediately boot him out once it was clear that he was a fraud.
Trump is the most dishonorable person ever to be sworn in as president. He dishonored those of us who served in uniform especially those who died in the service of their country. In his mind we are all suckers. People who suffered as Vietnam POWs, including Col Larry Guarino USAF (longest held) and his #2 officer in Hanoi, CAPT John McCain USN were"losers" despite their daily heroism in captivity. Trump is a man who respects nobody but people who are a threat to his life or his wealth - just like his idol Alphonse Capone or countless shifty mobsters with whom he and his minions collaborated.
Trump was selling pardons, no doubt. Though chump change when compared with what he was getting for top secret defense information. He told an Australian buddy how close a US sub can get to a Russian sub with being detected. That has to be a top tier secret - or was. Oh, and first we have to detect their subs ... billions of taxpayer money funded development of several technologies involved.
Great article to forward to DOJ/FBI as a report of crimes...
They will ignore it Jeffrey, DOJ/FBI, NSA, DHS, DEA are all "conservative" (read right wing), and staffed by Trump appointees and loyalists, or if not, those that are ideologically and financially sympathetic.
Billionaires for fascism and citizens united. Billionaires love SCOTUS and Trump.
If they can jail Trump, they can jail any billionaire.
Mr. Hartman. Thank you for bringing up this apparently-forgotten subject. To those who believe the DOJ is likely investigating Trump's many illegal acts; and also say we simply do not know about these investigations yet. I say: You are whistling as you walk past the cemetery.
Amen,brother Ben. Spot on Mr Dobbertin.
It occurs to me that there might be some merit in you and Seymour Hersh joining forces on exposés. Maybe also Steve Schmidt and Dennis Kucinich...??? All on Substack.
Step right up---get your red hot presidential pardon! For a mere two million dollars you too can escape the consequences of your crimes!
This is just another aspect of the fact Trump thinks buying your way out of trouble is "normal". To him, it's the right of anyone who has money, especially other people's money.
What to do? You can't shame him, and Rudy is too drunk to care about his own reputation. Still exposure is a good thing. This is another reason to vote for Joe. We know he has a conscience and hopefully future presidents will have one too.
This is one more thing to add to Trump's despicable legacy.
Thom writes: "Predictably, Trump’s AG never replied to the letter and, to this day, it doesn’t seem there are any active investigations of pardon-peddling by Trump and Giuliani."
Behold, another example of Merrick Garland being a right winger, despot enabler. Add this tidbit to not even indicting Matt Gaetz, the J6 conspirators in Congress, his decision to try Trump in Aileen Cannons district and then appointing her the Judge,and finally acceding to Trump humping Weiss's plea (pick me coach) indict and convict Hunter Biden.,I am sure there is more that we aren't aware of.
But ameliorating, accommodating, bipartisan, Pollyanna Biden appointed him.