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Takeaways From Day three of Trump’s Impeachment Trial

Takeaways From Day 3 of Trump’s Impeachment Trial

House impeachment executives on Thursday closed their case against former President Donald J. Trump, warning Senators that it would set a dangerous standard for the country in the future if they didn’t vote for a conviction. The trial will resume Friday when Mr Trump’s defense team comes up with their case that the president did not instigate the attack on the Capitol.

Here are some takeaways from the third day of the trial.

The impeachment managers used their last day of the argument to convince the Senators that Mr Trump invited the rioters to Washington on Jan. 6. They argued that the “insurgents” who attacked the Capitol were not acting alone as its defenders said and will most likely claim if they present their case.

The managers again used video footage of Mr. Trump and his supporters to present their arguments, interspersed with clips of chaos to remind the Senators of how they felt when the Capitol was attacked. They claimed that such violence would not have happened without Mr Trump.

An impeachment manager, Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado, shared her experience during the attack and how she and others ran to safety and saw a SWAT team with weapons aimed at rioters on the ground. Ms. DeGette said she wondered, “Who sent you there?”

She shared comments from rioters, including a Texas real estate agent named Jennifer L. Ryan. “I thought I was going to follow my president,” Ms. Ryan said. “I thought I was following what we were called to do. He asked us to fly there, he asked us to be there, so I did what he asked us to do. “

The Trump impeachment ›

What you need to know

    • A court case will determine whether former President Donald J. Trump is guilty of instigating a deadly crowd of his supporters when they stormed the Capitol on January 6, violently violated security measures, and went into hiding when they met to certify President Biden’s victory.
    • Parliament voted 232 votes to 197 in favor of a single impeachment trial, accusing Mr. Trump of “inciting violence against the United States government” in order to dismiss the election results. Ten Republicans voted against him alongside the Democrats.
    • To convict Mr. Trump, the Senate would need a two-thirds majority to approve. This means that at least 17 Republican senators would have to vote with Senate Democrats to convict.
    • A conviction seems unlikely. Last month, only five Senate Republicans sided with the Democrats in repelling a Republican attempt to dismiss the charges because Mr Trump is no longer in office. Only 27 senators say they are not sure whether to convict Mr. Trump.
    • If the Senate convicts Mr. Trump and finds him guilty of “inciting violence against the United States government,” the Senators could vote on whether to expel him from office. This vote would only require a simple majority, and when it came to party lines, the Democrats would prevail if Vice President Kamala Harris casts the casting vote.
    • If the Senate doesn’t condemn Mr Trump, the former president could run for office again. Public opinion polls show he remains by far the most popular national figure in the Republican Party.

In another clip, Ms. Ryan said, “President Trump asked us to be in DC on the 6th, so that was our way of stopping the theft.”

After Joseph R. Biden Jr. denounced the attack on television and asked Mr. Trump to speak on national television and “demand an end to this siege,” one rioter asked, “He doesn’t know that President Trump called us to siege Has?” the place?”

The impeachment managers stressed that despite the five deaths and dozens of injuries among police officers alone, including broken ribs and broken spinal discs, Mr Trump never apologized for what happened on Jan. 6.

“President Trump’s lack of remorse and refusal to answer during the attack shows his state of mind,” said California representative Ted Lieu, a manager. “It shows that he intended the January 6th events to take place. And when it happened, he was happy about it. “

The managers stressed that Mr Trump’s behavior – selling false conspiracy theories and fraudulent claims, praising violence, skewing facts to fit his agenda – was not limited to the presidential fight and elections, and showed video clips of some of the most shocking and most controversial moments of his presidency. Among them was the deadly protest by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia after Mr. Trump encouraged the white supremacy movement in a way that no president had done in generations.

Jamie Raskin, the chief impeachment manager, asked the Senators, “Is there a political leader in this room who believes Donald Trump would stop inciting violence in order to find his way if he ever gets back to the Oval Office from the Senate? ? “

Throughout the impeachment process, House managers have commended former Vice President Mike Pence for standing up against Mr Trump and refusing to reject the vote of the electoral college for re-election.

“Vice President Pence showed us what it means to be an American,” said Lieu on Wednesday. “What it means to show courage. He has put his country, his oath, his values ​​and his morals above the will of a man. “

It was unusual praise to hear from Democrats after Mr Pence worked with his burning boss for four years, which, according to critics, only allowed Mr Trump to do.

Managers stressed that the rioters wanted to assassinate the country’s second in command, Mr. Pence, which appeared to appeal to the Republican senators’ appeal to the sacred chain of command.

“During the attack, the vice president never left the Capitol and remained locked in the building with his family – with his family -” said representative Stacey E. Plaskett, a manager and delegate of the Virgin Islands Non-Voting House. “Remember that as you think about these images and sounds of the attack. The vice president, our deputy, was always the focus. Vice President Pence has been threatened with death by the president’s supporters for rejecting President Trump’s request to overthrow the election. “

Mr. Pence, a former congressman and governor of Indiana, has been largely out of sight since leaving office. At the end of January, he was seen on vacation with his wife in the Virgin Islands.

Earlier this month, Mr Pence announced that he had joined the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

The house’s impeachment executives closed three days of emotional footage of the attack. They showed Senators how close they were to the violent crowd of Trump supporters as they ducked and ran to safety that day. At times the videos and recordings seemed to resonate with the Republicans in the room. Some of them even praised the work of the property managers. But it wasn’t enough to change her mind.

On Thursday, before the managers closed their case, Republican Senator John Boozman of Arkansas told reporters that he would vote to acquit Mr. Trump. He predicted that the 43 other Republicans who voted with him to find that a former president’s attempt was unconstitutional would also vote for the acquittal.

To get a conviction, Senate Democrats would have to support 17 of their Republican counterparts, and that was never an expected outcome.

“Impeachment is dead on arrival,” Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul predicted last month.

Sabrina Tavernise, Luke Broadwater and Glenn Thrush contributed to the coverage.

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Politics

5 Takeaways From Day One among Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial

5 Takeaways From Day One of Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial

The second impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump began on Tuesday, 370 days after he was acquitted of high crimes and offenses in his first trial. He is accused of “instigating a riot” for sparking violence in the US Capitol on January 6th. The House impeachment managers and Mr Trump’s defense team argued over whether the Constitution would allow the Senate to hold a trial against a former president and ultimately decided he could move forward.

Here are some takeaways from day one.

In a 56-44 vote, the Senate dismissed Mr Trump’s defense team’s argument and decided, largely partisan, that he had the authority to bring an accused former president to justice. This paved the way for Wednesday’s trial.

Impeachment executives, led by Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, argued that the rejection of this impeachment trial would constitute a “January exception” that would set the precedent for a Lame Duck president to act inconsistently in the final weeks of his tenure .

The defense team called the prosecutor’s case a “quick impeachment” and argued that a former president does not need to stand trial because it would set the precedent for punishing a former official after leaving office at the whim of the party in power.

Only a simple majority was required on the question of jurisdiction, in contrast to the two-thirds majority required for a conviction. Six Republicans, along with all 50 Democrats, decided that the Senate could continue the process.

In a 13-minute video of scenes from the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the House’s chief impeachment manager, Mr. Raskin, showed a graphical visual record of the attack, including the explicit language of the rioters and riot shouts, as well as clips from Mr. Trumps Comments during the day – like his speech to followers before some of them stormed the Capitol and a Twitter post hours after the attacks, in which he wrote, “Remember that day forever.”

The Trump impeachment ›

What you need to know

    • A court case will determine whether former President Donald J. Trump is guilty of instigating a deadly crowd of his supporters when they stormed the Capitol on January 6, violently violated security measures, and went into hiding when they met to certify President Biden’s victory.
    • Parliament voted 232 votes to 197 in favor of a single impeachment trial, accusing Mr. Trump of “inciting violence against the United States government” in order to dismiss the election results. Ten Republicans voted against him alongside the Democrats.
    • To convict Mr. Trump, the Senate would need a two-thirds majority to approve. This means that at least 17 Republican senators would have to vote with Senate Democrats to convict.
    • A conviction seems unlikely. Last month, only five Senate Republicans sided with the Democrats in repelling a Republican attempt to dismiss the charges because Mr Trump is no longer in office. On the eve of the start of the trial, only 28 senators say they are not sure whether to convict Mr Trump.
    • If the Senate convicts Mr. Trump and finds him guilty of “inciting violence against the United States government,” the Senators could vote on whether to expel him from office. This vote would only require a simple majority, and when it came to party lines, the Democrats would prevail if Vice President Kamala Harris casts the casting vote.
    • If the Senate doesn’t condemn Mr Trump, the former president could run for office again. Public opinion polls show he remains by far the most popular national figure in the Republican Party.

The scenes of chaos in the video showed a crowd of protesters forcibly pushing past security barricades and police lines. Shots from inside the building included an officer screaming as he was knocked down by a door and another officer shot killing one of the rioters, Ashli ​​Babbitt.

For many of the Senators on Tuesday, the footage provided different angles than what they saw firsthand when they were brought out of the same Senate Chamber in shock and fear.

“They are asking what a great crime and misdemeanor our constitution is,” Raskin told the senators at the end of the video. “This is a high crime and misdemeanor. If that is not a criminal offense, there is no such thing. “

One of Mr. Trump’s defense lawyers, David I. Schoen, accused the property managers of hiring a “film company” to put together the most disturbing footage of the day. Mr Schön also offered a video account with a collection of calls by Democrats to impeach Mr Trump over the past four years, a false equivalency as none of these comments resulted in violence.

While this is a new Senate – with Democrats in the majority – and the way Mr Trump is accused is different from the allegations he faced in his first impeachment trial, there is no question that Mr Trump will ultimately is acquitted, just like a year ago.

It would take the Democrats 17 Republicans to break with and vote with the former president to have the two-thirds necessary to convict Mr Trump. If the six Republican senators who voted with Democrats Tuesday on the Senate’s right to hold the trial also voted to convict Mr. Trump, it would take Democrats 11 more Republican defectors to get a conviction.

For Democrats, a guilty verdict would be a formal, permanent waiver of Mr. Trump’s behavior. Should Mr Trump be convicted, the Senate could vote to decide whether to run again for office – something the Democrats have argued is in the best interests of the country.

An acquittal would allow Republicans to postpone the conviction of their party’s most popular member. But it would only delay the inevitable reckoning of their party faces between the moderate members and the far right wing, which not only defends Mr Trump but seeks to punish other Republicans for betraying him.

For the Democrats, an acquittal could still be some sort of political victory, as the trial was an opportunity to publicly condemn Mr Trump’s actions in his final days as president and provide a formal record of the Republican senators who refused to accept him to punish.

Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, has already been criticized for proposing that Mr. Trump be given a passport for the January 6th events.

“Look, everyone makes mistakes, everyone is entitled to a mulligan every now and then,” Lee said on Fox News after the property managers argued, using a golf term for a do-over.

As the longest-serving Democrat in the Senate, 80-year-old Leahy is the chairman of the Senate trial against Mr Trump.

Last year, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. held that role, an appointment set out in the Constitution. This time, however, Chief Justice Roberts was not interested in the job. And because the constitution does not provide who should oversee the trial of a former president, it fell to Mr Leahy and gave him the power to rule on key issues such as admissible evidence.

On January 6th, Mr. Leahy was among the lawmakers who had to move away from the violent crowd, making him one of the hundreds of witnesses who were at the Capitol that day. And as one of 100 Senators, he will also vote on whether to convict Mr Trump of inciting violence against the United States.

Mr Leahy’s three hats were a reminder, among other things, that while these trials in the Senate are referred to as trials, they are not comparable to those in courtrooms across the country.

Mr Trump’s defense team unsuccessfully argued that Mr Leahy’s conflict of interest is one reason the trial is unconstitutional.

Bruce L. Castor Jr., the attorney who began the Trump defense team’s arguments Tuesday, led Senators down a tortuous path of generalizations about the Senate, Mr. Trump’s right to freedom of expression, and the difference between murder and manslaughter in criminal justice.

“I have no idea what he’s doing,” said Alan M. Dershowitz, who served on Mr. Trump’s defense team during his first impeachment last year, on conservative television station Newsmax. “Maybe he’ll bring it home, but at the moment it doesn’t seem like an effective advocacy.”

While Mr. Castor was speaking, other senators looked restless and began to talk to each other.

“The president’s attorney kept moving,” Republican Senator John Cornyn told reporters after the trial ended. “I’ve seen a lot of lawyers and a lot of arguments and that wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen.”

Mr Schön, another of Mr Trump’s attorneys, seemed to regain attention in the room when he argued that the Constitution does not allow the impeachment of a former president.

“This process will tear this country apart, perhaps as we have seen it only once in our history,” said Mr Schön, an obvious reference to the civil war. “For political reasons,” he added, “it is wrong, how wrong it can be for all of us as a nation.”

Glenn Thrush contributed to the coverage.

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Politics

What to Watch in Trump’s Impeachment Trial

What to Watch in Trump's Impeachment Trial

The second impeachment trial against former President Donald J. Trump begins Tuesday, about a month after he was indicted by the House of Representatives for rioting over his role in fighting a violent mob that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Here’s what you need to know.

Senate Democrats and Republicans, along with House impeachment executives and Mr Trump’s legal team, reached a bipartisan agreement on Monday that aims to pave the way for a particularly fast and efficient process that could be completed early next week.

The rules allow each side up to 16 hours to present their case. The Senate stands ready to vote to approve the rules and officially begin the process on Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Up to four hours are spent debating the constitutionality of the indictment against a president who is no longer in office. When a simple majority of the senators agree to go ahead as expected, the main part of the process begins.

As of Wednesday, prosecutors and defense have 16 hours each to present their cases to the senators, who act as the jury. The oral presentations will continue at least until Friday, but could extend into the next week.

Tradition dictates that senators then have at least one day to ask questions. This time, senators can give property managers the opportunity to force a debate and vote on calling witnesses. However, it is unclear whether they will choose to do this. The process is expected to end with final arguments and a final vote on Mr Trump’s conviction.

The Trump impeachment ›

What you need to know

    • A court case will determine whether former President Donald J. Trump is guilty of instigating a deadly crowd of his supporters when they stormed the Capitol on January 6, violently violated security measures, and went into hiding when they met to certify President Biden’s victory.
    • Parliament voted 232 votes to 197 in favor of a single impeachment trial, accusing Mr. Trump of “inciting violence against the United States government” in order to dismiss the election results. Ten Republicans voted against him alongside the Democrats.
    • To convict Mr. Trump, the Senate would need a two-thirds majority to approve. This means that at least 17 Republican senators would have to vote with Senate Democrats to convict.
    • A conviction seems unlikely. Last month, only five Senate Republicans sided with the Democrats in repelling a Republican attempt to dismiss the charges because Mr Trump is no longer in office. On the eve of the start of the trial, 28 senators said they weren’t sure to convict Mr Trump.
    • If the Senate convicts Mr. Trump and finds him guilty of “inciting violence against the United States government,” the Senators could vote on whether to expel him from office. This vote would only require a simple majority, and when it came to party lines, the Democrats would prevail if Vice President Kamala Harris casts the casting vote.
    • If the Senate doesn’t condemn Mr Trump, the former president could run for office again. Public opinion polls show he remains by far the most popular national figure in the Republican Party.

In a fast-paced and cinematic case, property managers will argue before the Senate that Mr. Trump is guilty of causing a lethal crowd of his supporters to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Prosecutors plan to show videos taken of the crowd, Mr. Trump’s unvarnished words, and criminal pleas from rioters who said they were acting at the orders of the former president. In an attempt to rekindle outrage over the attack that submerged lawmakers when they met to confirm President Biden’s victory, the property managers are seeking a conviction and preventing Mr Trump from holding office again .

“We think every American should know what happened,” Maryland Democrat Representative Jamie Raskin said in an interview. “The reason he was charged by the House of Representatives and why he should be convicted and expelled from the future federal office is to make sure that such an attack on our democracy and constitution never happens again.”

In a 78-page brief filed on Monday, Mr Trump’s attorneys argued that impeachment proceedings were unconstitutional because Congress had no basis on which to judge a former president. No past president has ever been charged, but the trial is not without precedent: the Senate tried a war minister on trial in the 1870s after he resigned.

On Friday, more than 140 constitutional attorneys targeted the argument put forward by Mr. Trump’s attorneys, calling it “legally frivolous”. However, it could still give Republican senators political protection to dismiss charges on a technical issue without forcing them to focus on Mr Trump’s conduct.

Whatever disputes play out during the week, few expect enough Senate Republicans to vote differently than in Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial.

Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said this on Sunday and suggested on the CBS Face the Nation program that the outcome of the trial was “really not in doubt”.

When the Senate voted to acquit Mr. Trump last year, Utah Senator Mitt Romney was the only Republican to join the Democrats in condemnation.

This time he may not be alone.

Several other Republicans, including Senators Ben Sasse from Nebraska, Patrick J. Toomey from Pennsylvania and Susan Collins from Maine, said they had serious concerns about Mr. Trump’s role in inciting violence.

Less than two weeks ago, 45 Republicans voted to dismiss the entire impeachment process as unconstitutional, strongly suggesting that the 67-vote threshold required for conviction – or two-thirds of the chamber – may be out of reach.

The New York Times Convention team will follow developments on Capitol Hill. Visit nytimes.com for full week coverage.

The process is also streamed online from C-SPAN and televised by major networks such as CNN and PBS.

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Business

Large Publishing Pushes Out Trump’s Final Fan

Big Publishing Pushes Out Trump’s Last Fan

Ms. Hartson’s list was a more direct attack on the policies of her colleagues. The last book she bought was the upcoming Wokenomics: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam. And so, Hachette fired her last month when Ms. Hartson was aiming high with Amazon’s best-selling political book, Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy.

The official reasons for Ms. Hartson’s resignation, as two people who were familiar with her said, were banal. But she told staff that she believed she had been fired for her policies. In a Zoom employee meeting on January 26, Hachette Book Group CEO Michael Pietsch and Daisy Hutton, Center Street director, didn’t mention Ms. Hartson. But they assured staff that they had learned the lessons of the January 6th siege of the Capitol: no hate speech, no incitement to violence, no false stories. And they have separately made it clear to both editors and agents that they are turning back to the think tank conservatives and moving away from fire-breathing politicians. (Mrs. Hartson did not respond to questions about her views and her dismissal.)

“The Conservative movement is on the move and the next few years will be an especially rich time to talk about the future of conservatism in America,” said Ms. Hutton, who lives in Nashville and whose background is primarily Christian publishing, said in an e- Mail. “Center Street will continue to publish thoughtful, provocative, vibrant, and informative books that will make a meaningful contribution to shaping this conversation.”

Hachette is hardly the only mainstream publisher to turn away from MAGA books. Simon & Schuster invoked the “morals” clause to cancel the publication of a book by Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, after objecting to the November election results and cheering protests just before the violence broke out. Simon & Schuster, two sources familiar with his plans, will also stop publishing right-wing activist Candace Owens.

Some of these tensions are about freedom of speech. An older generation of publishing directors had long argued that they had a responsibility to publish votes they disagreed with in the context of their function in a democracy. Thomas Spence, president of conservative publisher Regnery, said he viewed the Big Five (soon to be four if Penguin Random House completes acquisition of Simon & Schuster) postponement as “blacklisted form”.

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In Uncommon Public Assertion, Congressional Aides Name for Trump’s Conviction

In Rare Public Statement, Congressional Aides Call for Trump’s Conviction

WASHINGTON – More than 370 Democratic congressional assistants will launch an unusual public appeal Wednesday to the Senators – in some cases their own bosses – to condemn former President Donald J. Trump for inciting a violent “assault on our workplace”, the the peaceful transition threatens power.

In a very personal letter, the employees describe how they duck under office desks, barricade themselves in offices or watch as they watch marauding groups of rioters who have “smashed” their way through the Capitol on January 6th. The responsibility, they argue, rests directly with them on Mr. Trump and his “unfounded, months-long attempt to reject legitimately cast votes by the American people.”

“As Congressional officials, we do not have a vote on whether to convict Donald J. Trump for his role in inciting the violent attack on the Capitol, but our senators do,” they wrote. “And for our sake and for the sake of the country, we ask that you vote to condemn the former president and prevent him from ever assuming office again.”

A copy of the letter, including the names of the signatories, was provided to the New York Times prior to its publication on Wednesday, four weeks after the attack and days before the Senate impeachment proceedings.

The letter, while not binding in any way, underlined the remarkable dynamism of the trial of Mr. Trump, in which many of the witnesses and victims of the “incitement to rebellion” he accused are among the closest advisers to lawmakers who will decide his trial political fate. Congressional assistants often advise the elected officials they serve behind closed doors, and many are empowered to speak on behalf of those officials. But extremely rarely do they express their own views in public – let alone press for such a powerful political and constitutional means as impeachment.

Signatories included press officers, planners, committee staff, and advisers to the House and Senate, although relatively few were from the senior level of the committee’s chiefs of staff or directors. These included Drew Hammill, assistant chief of staff to Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, as well as communications assistants closely associated with lawmakers involved in Mr Trump’s impeachments, such as Shadawn Reddick-Smith, who works for the Democrats in the House Justice Committee; Gabby Richards, communications director for Representative Mary Gay Scanlon of Pennsylvania; Anne Feldman, director of communications for Jason Crow representative of Colorado; and Daniel Gleick, communications director for Val Demings representative of Florida.

The organizers of the letter asked Republican aid workers for assistance and offered to record a language to allay their concerns about boss retaliation or social media harassment. But despite the preliminary interest of some, those familiar with the effort said no Republican aid workers had signed up in the end.

While public attention has focused on the stories of their better-known bosses, congressional assistants who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 have privately struggled for weeks to make sense of what they saw in the building’s normally silent halls. Unlike their superiors, they usually have few outlets to publicly share these experiences.

In the letter to the Senators, the aides refer to Brian D. Sicknick, a Capitol police officer who died after meeting the mob, as “one of our staff who watches and greets us every day.” The letter also states that in the age of mass shootings at the post-Columbine school, many of the signatories had come of age and had been trained to respond.

“When the mob broke through the barricades of the Capitol Police, broke doors and windows and stormed into the Capitol with body armor and weapons, many of us hid behind chairs and under desks or barricaded ourselves in offices,” they wrote. “Others watched on television, desperately trying to reach bosses and coworkers as they fled for their lives.”

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Who’s Jonathan Braun? Trump’s Final Minute Pardon Nonetheless Faces Accusations of Violence

Who is Jonathan Braun? Trump's Last Minute Pardon Still Faces Accusations of Violence

President Donald J. Trump’s late-night commutation of a 10-year prison sentence being served by a drug smuggler named Jonathan Braun made the action sound almost routine. The White House said only that upon his release, Mr. Braun would “seek employment to support his wife and children.”

What the White House did not mention is that Mr. Braun, a New Yorker from Staten Island who had pleaded guilty in 2011 to leading a large-scale marijuana smuggling ring, still faces both criminal and civil investigations in an entirely separate matter, and has a history of violence and threatening people.

According to lawsuits filed in June against Mr. Braun and two associates by the New York State attorney general, Letitia James, and the Federal Trade Commission, Mr. Braun helped start and worked as a de facto enforcer for an operation that made predatory loans to small-business owners, threatening them with violence if they refused to pay up.

Federal prosecutors for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan also have a continuing investigation into that operation, a person with knowledge of the investigation said Friday.

As recently as two and a half years ago, Mr. Braun was accused of throwing a man off a deck at an engagement party. Federal prosecutors said in a court proceeding that he threatened to beat a rabbi who borrowed money to renovate a preschool at his synagogue. “I am going to make you bleed,” he told the rabbi, according to court documents, adding, “I will make you suffer for every penny.”

How much Mr. Trump and his aides knew about Mr. Braun’s past and his current legal troubles is not clear. In its announcement of the pardon this week, the White House appears to have substantially overstated how much of his 10-year sentence Mr. Braun had completed, saying he had served five years when he had only reported to prison a year ago. (The White House announcement also misspelled his first name, calling him Jonathon.)

Mr. Braun’s family had told people it was willing to spend millions of dollars for lawyers and others to try to get him out of prison, according to two people who have been in contact with the family members in recent months.

No one registered under federal lobbying laws to make Mr. Braun’s case to the Trump administration, though registration would not necessarily be required for legal representation. The White House announcement of the wave of 143 pardons and commutations early Wednesday, just hours before Mr. Trump left office, did not cite anyone who had backed the commutation of Mr. Braun’s sentence.

The lawyer Alan M. Dershowitz, who represented Mr. Trump in his first impeachment trial, said he “played a very limited role” in Mr. Braun’s clemency push, “almost exclusively” advising his father about the clemency process, and was paid “a very small amount of money” for his assistance.

Mr. Dershowitz said he believed Mr. Braun’s argument for clemency was “meritorious,” because Mr. Braun cooperated with prosecutors “for a good many years, and was told that his cooperation would be recognized and he didn’t get that recognition.”

His case is the latest evidence of how far the pardon process under Mr. Trump had strayed from the rigorous Justice Department guidelines and screening that previous presidents had largely relied on for clemency recommendations.

“Jonathan Braun has threatened small-business owners with violence, death and even kidnapping,” Ms. James said. “A federal commutation will not protect Mr. Braun from being held accountable in New York for the civil charges against him.”

Interviews and court documents paint a portrait of Mr. Braun as a major drug smuggler who once beat one of his underlings so badly with a belt that Mr. Braun told others he had left the victim “black and blue.” In another instance, he threatened violence against a woman who worked for him who was threatening to cooperate with prosecutors.

In response to questions about the pardon, Mr. Braun’s lawyer, Marc Fernich, declined to discuss how Mr. Braun had gotten his case in front of White House officials or who had represented him. But Mr. Fernich praised Mr. Trump’s action.

“Mr. Braun’s 10-year sentence was grossly unreasonable — an extreme statistical outlier — on the facts and circumstances of his case,” Mr. Fernich said in an email message. He said he applauded Mr. Trump’s “courage in correcting what was a grave injustice.”

A spokesman for Mr. Trump did not return an email message seeking comment.

Mr. Braun was indicted in 2010 and entered a plea deal in the drug case the next year after initially fleeing the country for Canada and Israel before turning himself in. He was not sentenced until 2019 and did not have to report to prison until last January.

While free on bail after his guilty plea but before reporting to prison, he plunged into a new enterprise, helping run an operation that made loans to small-business owners at extremely high interest rates. According to the suits filed last year by Ms. James, the New York State attorney general, and the Federal Trade Commission, Mr. Braun regularly threatened those who had trouble repaying the loans.

“I know where you live.” Mr. Braun told a small-business owner who he claimed owed him money, according to court documents filed by Ms. James.

Mr. Braun told the business owner he knew where his mother lived.

“I will take your daughters from you,” he said, according to the suit.

Mr. Braun is accused in the suit of telling another business owner: “Be thankful you’re not in New York, because your family would find you floating in the Hudson.”

Previous presidents relied on a Justice Department screening process for pardons that ensured they were being given in an evenhanded way and that those with money and connections were not receiving preferential treatment. But Mr. Trump largely disregarded that process and wielded his clemency powers unlike any previous president.

The Constitution gives presidents the ability to issue pardons and commutations, a brake on the criminal justice system and a way to show grace and mercy. But Mr. Trump doled out clemency to friends, allies, donors, witnesses who did not cooperate with investigations that involved him and his campaign, and those who could help him politically.

“When the Justice Department process is short-circuited, and there’s insufficient vetting — if you don’t take the time to look at someone’s history and potential other exposure — this is what you end up with: a process that appears corrupted by money and influence,” said Daniel Zelenko, a white-collar defense lawyer at Crowell and Moring and former federal prosecutor and enforcement lawyer at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The full story of Mr. Braun’s arrest, indictment and sentencing spans a decade and, according to prosecutors’ statements in court and filings in his case, often unfolded like a crime thriller.

In 2009, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration raided a house on Staten Island that Mr. Braun’s drug trafficking network used to stash large stockpiles of drugs. Mr. Braun, who was in Florida at the time, learned from his underlings about the raid.

Immediately, Mr. Braun rented a car and with at least one associate drove 25 hours to the New York border with Canada.

“In the dead of night, dressed entirely in black and utilizing a motorless boat, Braun was ferried across the river into Canada, and remained there for several months, hiding out in one of the properties owned by his Canadian associate,” according to court documents filed by the Justice Department.

Clemency Power ›

Presidential Pardons, Explained

President Trump has discussed potential pardons that could test the boundaries of his constitutional power to nullify criminal liability. Here’s some clarity on his ability to pardon.

    • May a president issue prospective pardons before any charges or conviction? Yes. In Ex parte Garland, an 1866 case involving a former Confederate senator who had been pardoned by President Andrew Johnson, the Supreme Court said the pardon power “extends to every offense known to the law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are taken or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment.” It is unusual for a president to issue a prospective pardon before any charges are filed, but there are examples, perhaps most famously President Gerald R. Ford’s pardon in 1974 of Richard M. Nixon to prevent him from being prosecuted after the Watergate scandal.
    • May a president pardon his relatives and close allies? Yes. The Constitution does not bar pardons that raise the appearance of self-interest or a conflict of interest, even if they may provoke a political backlash and public shaming. In 2000, shortly before leaving office, President Bill Clinton issued a slew of controversial pardons, including to his half brother, Roger Clinton, over a 1985 cocaine conviction for which he had served about a year in prison, and to Susan H. McDougal, a onetime Clinton business partner who had been jailed as part of the Whitewater investigation.
    • May a president issue a general pardon? This is unclear. Usually, pardons are written in a way that specifically describes which crimes or sets of activities they apply to. There is little precedent laying out the degree to which a pardon can be used to instead foreclose criminal liability for anything and everything.
    • May a president pardon himself? This is unclear. There is no definitive answer because no president has ever tried to pardon himself and then faced prosecution anyway. As a result, there has never been a case which gave the Supreme Court a chance to resolve the question. In the absence of any controlling precedent, legal thinkers are divided about the matter.
    • Find more answers here.

Mr. Braun then fled to Israel, where he took refuge for several months, hoping to avoid being apprehended as he continued to run his drug operation from an encrypted BlackBerry phone, the documents say. In the fall of 2009, Mr. Braun returned to the United States, where he was arrested and jailed.

When he was indicted in 2010, he was charged with operating a marijuana ring that was one of the major distributors in New York City, smuggling in and selling $1.72 billion worth from 2007 to 2010.

“It is neither an exaggeration nor hyperbole to state that the defendant and his criminal enterprise generated illegal proceeds exceeding the gross domestic product of a small country,” the Justice Department said in a 2010 filing.

His lawyers sought at that point to persuade a judge to release him on bail, but prosecutors successfully kept him in jail, laying out how Mr. Braun had told others that he planned to flee the United States if he was released on bail.

“Braun specifically told a cooperating government witness that he would ‘never do time in jail,’” prosecutors said in a court filing. “Braun went on to explain that ‘for 10 grand, I could get a fake passport’ and be ‘on a beach somewhere where there is no extradition,’ still ‘making money.’”

In arguing that Mr. Braun should remain in prison, the prosecutors laid out a gruesome episode in which he beat a younger man working for him who had been given the job of guarding $100,000 worth of marijuana being kept in a house in California.

After Mr. Braun learned that the marijuana had been stolen, he called the man and demanded he give him $100,000. The man refused. Mr. Braun and one of his enforcers booked flights to California, arriving there the next morning. They broke into the house, where they found the man in bed.

“Braun then took off his belt and proceeded to viciously whip his worker with the belt,” the court documents say. “At one point, the ‘kid’ tried to get away from Braun, but Braun’s enforcer pushed him back down onto the bed so that Braun could continue the beating. In Braun’s own words, his brutal assault left the ‘kid’s’ entire body ‘black and blue.’”

Mr. Braun pleaded guilty in 2011 to two counts of conspiring to import a controlled substance and money laundering. As part of his plea, prosecutors allowed him to be released on bail and live at home while awaiting sentencing. His sentencing was delayed repeatedly.

Legal experts and defense lawyers say that defendants are typically on their best behavior when they are out on bail and awaiting sentencing. But Mr. Braun continued to flout the law, according to the suits later filed against him by the New York State attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission.

In 2018, Bloomberg News wrote a series of articles about how Mr. Braun had emerged as a leading short-term lender to small businesses. While structured to try to avoid usury laws, the rates Mr. Braun changed were as high as 400 percent a year. The New York attorney general’s office opened an investigation in response to the articles.

The next year, a judge held a sentencing hearing for Mr. Braun on the drug trafficking charges. At the hearing, prosecutors laid out two recent episodes in which Mr. Braun had violently assaulted others. One allegation said that Mr. Braun had thrown someone off a two-story balcony at a Staten Island engagement party in the summer of 2018.

The other allegation related to how Mr. Braun had lent money to the Brooklyn rabbi for the preschool. The rabbi had fallen behind on the payments and Mr. Braun reportedly threatened to beat and humiliate him.

“I am coming to Crown Heights,” Mr. Braun said, according to a lawsuit filed by the synagogue. “I will hang papers all over the lampposts in Crown Heights stating that you are a liar and a thief. I am going to tell people that you are running an illegal operation and a scam.”

Fearing the rabbi would be attacked, the synagogue wired Mr. Braun $1,000 and hired a lawyer. In a subsequent call between Mr. Braun and the lawyer, Mr. Braun called the lawyer a profanity, according to the suit filed by the synagogue.

Shortly after Mr. Braun’s commutation was announced, Mr. Dershowitz said he received a call from Mr. Braun and his father.

“Everybody was very grateful. There were a lot of tears going around,” Mr. Dershowitz said, explaining that the father called again on Friday before the Jewish Sabbath. “And he said he is going to continue to call me every Shabbos, so I should expect a call.”

Kenneth P. Vogel and Ben Protess contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy and Kitty Bennett contributed research.

Categories
Politics

Trump’s Pardons: The Checklist – The New York Instances

Trump's Pardons: The List - The New York Times

In the final hours before President Trump left office, the White House released a list early Wednesday of 73 pardons and 70 commutations that he had issued.

They came nearly a month after Mr. Trump pardoned, among others, Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner; Paul Manafort, his 2016 campaign chairman; and Roger J. Stone Jr., his longtime informal adviser and friend whose sentence the president had commuted in July.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution gives presidents unlimited authority to grant pardons, which excuse or forgive a federal crime. A commutation, by contrast, makes a punishment milder without wiping out the underlying conviction.

Here are some of the pardons and commutations that Mr. Trump issued during his term:

Pardon: Jan. 19, 2021

Mr. Bannon, who was Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist and an architect of his 2016 presidential campaign, was charged in August of last year with defrauding contributors to a privately funded effort to build Mr. Trump’s wall along the Mexican border.

Mr. Bannon, working with a wounded Air Force veteran and a Florida venture capitalist, conspired to cheat hundreds of thousands of donors by falsely promising that their money had been set aside for new sections of wall, according to court documents.

The pardon of Mr. Bannon was notable because he had been charged with a crime but had yet to stand trial. An overwhelming majority of pardons and commutations granted by presidents have been for those convicted and sentenced.

Pardon: Jan. 19, 2021

Mr. Elliot, a California businessman, was a leading fund-raiser for Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign and inauguration before being tapped as deputy finance chairman for the Republican National Committee. He pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to violate foreign lobbying laws as part of a covert campaign to influence the Trump administration on behalf of Chinese and Malaysian interests.

Mr. Broidy admitted that he had accepted $9 million from Malaysian financier Jho Low, some of which was then paid to an associate, to push the Trump administration for the extradition of a Chinese dissident and to drop a case related to an embezzlement scheme from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund that the United States has accused Mr. Low of engineering.

Mr. Levandowski, a Silicon Valley star and pioneer of self-driving car technology, was sentenced in August to 18 months in prison for stealing self-driving car trade secrets from Google. At the time of the sentencing, a federal judge ordered that Mr. Levandowski would not be required to serve his sentence until the coronavirus pandemic subsided.

He also agreed to pay more than $756,000 to Waymo, a self-driving business spun out of Google, as restitution.

Pardons and Commutation: Jan. 13 and Jan. 19, 2021

Several former political figures were among those granted clemency by Mr. Trump.

Mr. Kilpatrick, a former mayor of Detroit, had his sentence commuted. In 2013, he was sentenced to 28 years in prison after being convicted of two dozen counts, including racketeering and extortion.

Mr. Hayes, the former chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, received a full pardon after being accused in 2019 of bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, along with several counts of making false statements. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year of probation.

Mr. Renzi, a former representative for Arizona, was pardoned by Mr. Trump. In 2013, he was sentenced to 36 months in prison in association with a bribery scheme involving an Arizona land swap deal.

Mr. Cunningham, a former representative for California, received a conditional pardon from Mr. Trump. In 2006, he was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison for taking $2.4 million in bribes from military contractors in return for smoothing the way for government contracts.

Pardon: Jan. 19, 2021

In December, the rapper Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., pleaded guilty to having illegally carried a gold-plated .45-caliber Glock handgun and ammunition as a felon while traveling on a private jet in 2019.

Because of a prior gun conviction, he faced up to 10 years in prison. He received a full pardon.

In October of last year, Lil Wayne became the latest in a line of rappers to align themselves, however briefly, with the Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign, only to face criticism from fans and fellow artists.

Commutation: Jan. 19, 2021

The rapper Kodak Black, whose legal name is Bill Kapri (though he was born Dieuson Octave), was granted a commutation. In 2019, he was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for lying on background paperwork while attempting to buy guns. He had served nearly half of that time.

In addition to Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, another figure related to the world of hip-hop was also granted clemency by Mr. Trump. Desiree Perez, the chief executive officer of Roc Nation, the media company started by the rapper Jay-Z, was given a full pardon after being convicted in a drug conspiracy case in the 1990s.

Mr. Manafort, 71, had been sentenced in 2019 to seven and a half years in prison for his role in a decade-long, multimillion-dollar financial fraud scheme for his work in the former Soviet Union. He was released early from prison in May as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and given home confinement. Mr. Trump had repeatedly expressed sympathy for Mr. Manafort, describing him as a brave man who had been mistreated by the special counsel’s office.

Pardon: Dec. 23, 2020, Commutation: July 10, 2020

Mr. Stone, a longtime friend and adviser of Mr. Trump, was sentenced in February 2020 to more than three years in prison in a politically fraught case that put the president at odds with his attorney general. Mr. Stone was convicted of seven felony charges, including lying under oath to a congressional committee and threatening a witness whose testimony would have exposed those lies.

Mr. Trump commuted Mr. Stone’s sentence in July and then pardoned him in December. A White House statement said that Mr. Stone had been “treated very unfairly” and added that “pardoning him will help to right the injustices he faced at the hands of the Mueller investigation.”

Pardon: Dec. 23, 2020

Mr. Kushner, 66, the father-in-law of the president’s older daughter, Ivanka Trump, pleaded guilty in 2004 to 16 counts of tax evasion, a single count of retaliating against a federal witness and one of lying to the Federal Election Commission. He served two years in prison before being released in 2006.

Mr. Kushner’s prison sentence was a searing event in his family’s life.

The witness he was accused of retaliating against was his brother-in-law, whose wife, Mr. Kushner’s sister, was cooperating with federal officials in a campaign finance investigation into Mr. Kushner. Mr. Kushner was accused of videotaping his brother-in-law with a prostitute and then sending it to his sister.

The case was prosecuted by then-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, a longtime Trump friend who went on to become governor of New Jersey.

PARDON: DEC. 22, 2020

George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign, pleaded guilty in 2017 to making false statements to federal officials as part of the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

Mr. Papadopoulos served 12 days in jail for lying to the F.B.I. about his contacts with Russian intermediaries during the 2016 presidential race. He later published a book portraying himself as a victim of a “deep state” plot to “bring down President Trump.”

Also pardoned was Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who was sentenced in April 2018 to 30 days in prison for lying to investigators for the special counsel’s office who were investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Three former Republican members of Congress were pardoned by Mr. Trump: Duncan Hunter of California, Chris Collins of New York and Steve Stockman of Texas.

Mr. Hunter was set to begin serving an 11-month sentence in January. He pleaded guilty in 2019 to one charge of misusing campaign funds. Prosecutors said he had funneled more than $150,000 from his campaign coffers to pay for a lavish lifestyle.

On Dec. 23, Mr. Trump pardoned Margaret Hunter, Mr. Hunter’s estranged wife, who had also pleaded guilty to charges of misusing campaign funds for personal expenses.

Mr. Collins, an early endorser of Mr. Trump, is serving a 26-month sentence after pleading guilty in 2019 to charges of making false statements to the F.B.I. and to conspiring to commit securities fraud. He admitted passing private information about an Australian drug company to his son to help him avoid financial losses.

Updated 

Jan. 20, 2021, 8:57 a.m. ET

Mr. Stockman was convicted in 2018 on charges of fraud and money laundering and was serving a 10-year sentence. He was charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for charity and using it to pay for personal expenses and his political campaigns.

Pardon: Nov. 25, 2020

Michael T. Flynn, a former national security adviser who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about his conversations with a Russian diplomat, and whose prosecution Attorney General William P. Barr tried to shut down, was the only White House official to be convicted as part of the Trump-Russia investigation.

In a statement about Mr. Flynn’s pardon, White House officials said he never should have been prosecuted and that the president’s action had finally brought “to an end the relentless, partisan pursuit of an innocent man.”

PARDON: DEC. 22, 2020

Mr. Trump issued full pardons to Nicholas Slatton and three other former U.S. service members who were convicted on charges related to the killing of Iraqi civilians while they were working as security contractors for Blackwater, a private company, in 2007.

Mr. Slatten and the others — Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard — were sentenced for their role in the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square in Baghdad. The massacre that left one of the most lasting stains of the war on the United States. Among the dead were two boys, 8 and 11.

Mr. Slatten had been sentenced to life in prison after the Justice Department had gone to great lengths to prosecute him.

Pardon: Aug. 25, 2017

Joe Arpaio, an anti-immigration crusader who enjoyed calling himself “America’s toughest sheriff,” was the first pardon of Mr. Trump’s presidency.

Once one of the most popular — and divisive — figures in Arizona, Mr. Arpaio was elected sheriff of Maricopa County five times before he was ultimately charged with criminal contempt for defying a court order to stop detaining people solely on the suspicion that they were undocumented immigrants. Mr. Arpaio was pardoned less than a month after he was found guilty.

Conrad M. Black, a former press baron and friend of Mr. Trump’s, was granted a full pardon 12 years after his sentencing for fraud and obstruction of justice.

Mr. Black, who once owned The Chicago Sun-Times, The Jerusalem Post and The Daily Telegraph of London, among other newspapers, was convicted of fraud in 2007 with three other former executives of Hollinger International.

Mr. Black, who was released from prison in 2012, is the author of several pro-Trump opinion articles as well as a flattering book, “Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other.”

COMMUTATION: Feb. 18, 2020

Dinesh D’Souza received a presidential pardon after pleading guilty to making illegal campaign contributions in 2014. Mr. D’Souza, a filmmaker and author whose subjects often dabble in conspiracy theories, had long blamed his conviction on his political opposition to Mr. Obama.

In issuing his pardon, Mr. Trump said that Mr. D’Souza had been “treated very unfairly by our government,” echoing a claim the commentator has often made himself.

Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers, pleaded guilty in 1998 to concealing an extortion plot. Mr. DeBartolo was prosecuted after he gave Edwin W. Edwards, the influential former governor of Louisiana, $400,000 to secure a riverboat gambling license for his gambling consortium.

Although Mr. DeBartolo avoided prison, he was fined $1 million and was suspended for a year by the N.F.L.

commutation: June 6, 2018; Pardon: Aug. 28, 2019

Alice Marie Johnson was serving life in a federal prison for a nonviolent drug conviction before her case was brought to Mr. Trump’s attention by the reality television star Kim Kardashian West.

The president’s decision to commute her sentence freed Ms. Johnson, who had been locked up in Alabama since 1996 on charges related to cocaine distribution and money laundering. Mr. Trump later pardoned Ms. Johnson on Aug. 28, 2019.

Pardons: 2018-20

Mr. Trump has issued posthumous pardons to three historical figures.

Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight boxing champion, was tarnished by a racially tainted criminal conviction in 1913 — for transporting a white woman across state lines — that haunted him well after his death in 1946. Mr. Trump pardoned him on May 24, 2018.

Susan B. Anthony, the women’s suffragist, was arrested in Rochester, N.Y., in 1872 for voting illegally and was fined $100. Mr. Trump pardoned her on Aug. 18, the 100th anniversary of the ratification of 19th Amendment, which extended voting rights to women.

Zay Jeffries, a metal scientist whose contributions to the Manhattan Project and whose development of armor-piercing artillery shells helped the Allies win World War II, was granted a posthumous pardon on Oct. 10, 2019. Jeffries was found guilty in 1948 of an antitrust violation related to his work and was fined $2,500.

Ten years ago, Bernard B. Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to eight felony charges, including tax fraud and lying to White House officials.

Mr. Trump said he heard from more than a dozen people about pardoning Mr. Kerik, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer. Mr. Kerik’s rise to prominence dates to the 1993 campaign for mayor in New York City, when he served as Mr. Giuliani’s bodyguard and chauffeur. After the pardon was announced, Mr. Kerik expressed his gratitude to Mr. Trump on Twitter. “With the exception of the birth of my children,” he wrote, “today is one of the greatest days in my life.”

Pardon: April 13, 2018

I. Lewis Libby Jr., known as Scooter, was Vice President Dick Cheney’s top adviser before Mr. Libby was convicted in 2007 of four felony counts, including perjury and obstruction of justice, in connection with the disclosure of the identity of a C.I.A. officer, Valerie Plame.

Mr. Libby had maintained his innocence for years, and his portrayal as a victim of an unfair prosecution ultimately found favor with Mr. Trump.

Pardon: Nov. 15, 2019

Mr. Trump’s decision to clear three members of the armed services who had been accused or convicted of war crimes signaled that the president intended to use his power as the ultimate arbiter of military justice.

He ordered full pardons of Clint Lorance, a former Army lieutenant who was serving a 19-year sentence for the murder of two civilians, and Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn, an Army Special Forces officer who was facing murder charges for killing an unarmed Afghan he believed was a Taliban bomb maker.

The president also reversed the demotion of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who had been acquitted of murder charges but convicted of a lesser offense in a high-profile war crimes case.

All three had been championed by prominent conservatives who had portrayed them as war heroes unfairly prosecuted for actions taken in the heat and confusion of battle.

Michael R. Milken was the billionaire “junk bond king” and a well-known financier on Wall Street in the 1980s. In 1990, he pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, though his sentence was later reduced to two. He also agreed to pay $600 million in fines and penalties.

Mr. Milken did not have a pardon or commutation application pending at the Justice Department’s pardons office, meaning that the president made that decision entirely without official department input. Among those arguing for Mr. Milken to be pardoned was Mr. Giuliani, who as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York prosecuted Mr. Milken.

Pardon: July 10, 2018

Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven Hammond, were Oregon cattle ranchers who had been serving five-year sentences for arson on federal land. Their cases inspired an antigovernment group’s weekslong standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016 and brought widespread attention to anger over federal land management in the Western United States.

The occupation, led by the Bundy family, drew militia members who commandeered government buildings and vehicles in tactical gear and long guns, promising to defend the family. During his campaign, Mr. Trump played to that sense of Western grievance, and the pardon of the Hammonds was a signal to conservatives that he was sympathetic.

David H. Safavian, the top federal procurement official under President George W. Bush, was sentenced in 2009 to a year in prison for covering up his ties to Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist whose corruption became a symbol of the excesses of Washington influence peddling. Mr. Safavian was convicted of obstruction of justice and making false statements.

Pardon: Feb. 18, 2020

Angela Stanton — an author, television personality and motivational speaker — served six months of home confinement in 2007 for her role in a stolen-vehicle ring. Her book “Life of a Real Housewife” explores her difficult upbringing and her encounters with reality TV stars.

Before her pardon, she gave interviews in which she declared her support for Mr. Trump. In announcing her pardon, the White House credited her with working “tirelessly to improve re-entry outcomes for people returning to their communities upon release from prison.”

Mr. Trump has pardoned a number of other people, including a construction executive whose family donated heavily to the president’s re-election effort and a man convicted of bank robbery who started a nonprofit that helps former prisoners.

  • Paul Pogue, a former owner of a Texas construction company, was pardoned on Feb. 18, 2020, for tax charges after his family contributed more than $200,000 to Mr. Trump’s re-election effort.

  • Ariel Friedler, a former executive of a software development company who pleaded guilty to conspiring to hack a competitor, secured a pardon on Feb. 18, 2020, with the help of Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey and a close ally of Mr. Trump’s.

  • Michael Chase Behenna, a former Army lieutenant, served five years in prison for fatally shooting an Iraqi man in American custody in 2008. Mr. Trump pardoned him on May 6, 2019. His case had “attracted broad support from the military, Oklahoma elected officials, and the public,” according to the White House.

  • Patrick James Nolan, a Republican former leader of the California State Assembly, pleaded guilty in 1994 to corruption charges and accepted a 33-month sentence. After his release, he became a supporter of criminal justice reform, according to the White House. Mr. Trump pardoned him on May 15, 2019.

  • Michael Anthony Tedesco, who was convicted of drug trafficking and fraud in 1990, was pardoned on July 29, 2019. President Obama had already pardoned Mr. Tedesco in 2017, but Mr. Trump’s action fixed a clerical error related to the pardoning of Mr. Tedesco’s fraud conviction.

  • Roy Wayne McKeever was arrested on charges of transporting marijuana from Mexico to Oklahoma in 1989, when he was 19, and was sentenced to one year in prison. Mr. Trump pardoned him on July 29, 2019. A White House statement called him “an active member of the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas.”

  • John Richard Bubala pleaded guilty to the improper use of federal property in 1990 and was pardoned on July 29, 2019. A White House statement said Mr. Bubala had been transferring automotive equipment to an Indiana town for maintenance and his “primary aim was to help the town.”

  • Chalmer Lee Williams was an airport baggage handler who was convicted on charges related to the theft and sale of weapons and was sentenced to four months in prison in 1995. The White House said in a statement that Mr. Williams had accepted responsibility for his actions. Mr. Trump pardoned him on July 29, 2019.

  • Rodney M. Takumi, who was arrested while working at an illegal gambling parlor in 1987, pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $250. Mr. Trump pardoned him on July 29, 2019. The White House said Mr. Takumi was the owner of a tax preparation franchise in the Navajo Nation.

  • Jon Donyae Ponder, who pleaded guilty to bank robbery in 2005, started a nonprofit that helps former prisoners after he was released from prison in 2009. Mr. Trump pardoned him on Aug. 25, 2020, shortly before the Republican National Convention entered its second night. The pardon was announced in a seven-minute video in which the president called Mr. Ponder’s life “a beautiful testament to the power of redemption.”

  • Two former Border Patrol agents, whose sentences for their roles in the shooting of an alleged drug trafficker had previously been commuted by President George W. Bush, were granted full pardons on Dec. 22.

Marie Fazio and Christina Morales contributed reporting.

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Politics

Trump’s 1776 Fee Critiques Liberalism in Report Derided by Historians

Trump’s 1776 Commission Critiques Liberalism in Report Derided by Historians

WASHINGTON – The White House released the President’s Commission Report of 1776 Monday, a sweeping attack on liberal thinking and activism calling for a “patriotic upbringing.” He defends America’s founding against allegations of slavery and compares progressivism with fascism.

In the heat of his September re-election campaign, President Trump formed the 18-person commission, made up of a range of conservative activists, politicians and intellectuals rather than professional historians, as he defended American traditional heritage against “radical liberals. Previously not known for his interest in American history or education, Mr. Trump insisted that the nation’s schools had been infiltrated by anti-American thinking and required a new “pro-American” curriculum.

The commission was part of Mr. Trump’s larger response to the anti-racism protests, some of which were violent, that followed the murder of George Floyd, a black man, by a white policeman in Minneapolis in June.

In his remarks in the National Archives, in which the formation of the commission was announced, Trump said: “The unrest and chaos of the left are the direct result of decades of indoctrination of the left in our schools.”

The Commission’s report is quick to ridicule many mainstream historians for indoctrinating Americans with false criticism of the nation’s founding and identity, including the role of slavery in its history.

“Historical revisionism, which tramples on honest scholarship and historical truth, puts Americans to shame by only highlighting the sins of their ancestors, and teaches claims of systemic racism that can only be eradicated through more discrimination, is an ideology that manipulates opinions more than should educate the mind. ” the report says.

The report was heavily criticized by historians, some of whom noted that the commission, although made up of conservative educators, did not include a single professional historian from the United States.

James Grossman, the executive director of the American Historical Association, said the report was not a work of history but “cynical politics”.

“This report skillfully interweaves myths, biases, deliberate silence, and misinterpretations of evidence, both overt and subtle, to produce a narrative and argument that few respected professional historians would find plausible, whether or not even on a wide range of interpretations convince or not. ” he said.

“They use what they call history to foment culture wars,” he said.

The commission’s report shows a nation where liberals seething with hatred of their own country, and whose divisions over its history and importance are a reminder of those who led to the American Revolution and Civil War.

It depicts an America whose institutions have been infiltrated by radical leftists whose views match those of recent totalitarian movements, and argues that progressives have created an unchecked “fourth branch” or “shadow government” in the so-called administrative state.

And American universities, the report says, “are often hotbeds of anti-Americanism, slander, and censorship that arouse at least contempt and, at worst, total hatred of the country among students and the wider culture.”

The report compares the progressive American movement of the early 20th century to the fascism of leaders like Benito Mussolini, who “sought to centralize power under the guidance of so-called experts”.

“The biggest statement in the 1776 report is that he includes ‘progressivism’ along with ‘slavery’ and ‘fascism’ in his list of ‘Challenges to America’s Principles’,” wrote Thomas Sugrue, a historian at New York University, on Twitter . “Time to rewrite my lectures to say that ending child labor and regulating meat packaging = Hitlerism.”

The report, published on Martin Luther King’s birthday, even targets the legacy of the civil rights movement, stating that it was “almost immediately focused on programs that ran counter to the high ideals of the founders.”

Some of the strongest criticisms related to the report’s treatment of slavery, which the report said was an unfortunate reality around the world that was swept away in America by the forces sparked by the American Revolution that it called “a dramatic change in the sea.” becomes moral sensitivity. “

The report’s authors condemn the allegation that the American founders were hypocrites who preached equality, despite the fact that they codified this in the constitution and kept slaves themselves.

“This accusation is false and has caused enormous damage, especially in recent years, with devastating effects on our civil unity and our social fabric,” they write. Men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, while owning hundreds of enslaved people, abhorred slavery, the report said.

“The White House report of 1776 seems to consider it worse for the country to label the founders as hypocritical of slavery than actual slavery,” wrote Seth Masket, professor of political science at the University of Denver, on Twitter.

And on a line that has been particularly ignited by historians, the report names John C. Calhoun “perhaps the leading precursor” of identity politics.

“Like today’s proponents of identity politics,” she claims, “Calhoun believed that it was impossible to achieve unity through rational considerations and political compromises. Majority groups only use the political process to suppress minority groups.”

The commission is chaired by Larry Arnn, an ally of Trump and president of the conservative Hillsdale College. Its co-chair is Carol Swain, a prominent black conservative and former law professor at Vanderbilt University. Other members include former Republican Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant; the conservative activist Ned Ryan; Mr. Trump’s former domestic policy adviser Brooke Rollins; and Charles Kesler, editor of the influential conservative publication The Claremont Review of Books.

The commission and its report are in part a rebuke for the New York Times Magazine’s 1619 project to refresh American history of the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans. The report denounces the project, as does Mr Trump in his September speech announcing the commission.

“This project is rewriting American history to teach our children that we were founded on the principle of oppression, not freedom,” Trump said at the time.

Mr Trump’s commission submitted its report just four months after it was drawn up and less than a month after Mr Trump publicly announced its members. In contrast, a Race Commission appointed by President Bill Clinton in June 1997 published its first report 15 months later.

Although the report was billed as “final” by the White House, it did not contain any scientific footnotes or citations, nor was it clear who its main authors were.

Categories
Politics

Trump’s ‘Legislation and Order’: One Extra Misleading Tactic Is Uncovered

Trump’s ‘Law and Order’: One More Deceptive Tactic Is Exposed

“The attack on the Capitol was the result of years of erosion of the line between fact and fiction and right and wrong,” said Rory Cooper, a Republican strategist. Mr. Cooper argued that there is now an opening for a “conservative candidate” to finally decouple appeals to law and order from the selective enforcement of the Trump era, “but we are a long way from that time.”

Other Republicans insist that no reason has been lost on this issue – that the party is likely to have the upper hand in the eyes of voters. “I think Republicans have the benefit of law and order right now and still do, regardless of what happened at the Capitol,” said Chris Russell, a longtime Republican advisor and advertiser.

And should the Democrats “hold on to a message that defeats the police,” added Russell – although Mr Biden denounced it – Republican candidates are likely to continue to succeed in calling their party more committed to public safety and making it stronger to support law enforcement.

All of this is in line with how some Republican lawmakers streamlined the attack on the Capitol. They insist that the sea of ​​protesters and rioters was not the result of months of indulgence for the president’s lie that the election was stolen, did not reflect the core of the party, in fact did not reflect the party at all. Republican officials across the country have falsely claimed the deaths and damage were caused by Antifa.

Hogan Gidley, a spokesman for the president, argued that Mr Trump’s message of love did not include those who stormed the Capitol. “The President didn’t talk about these people. It was clearly the people who were there to peacefully gather and protest peacefully, ”said Mr Gidley, although Mr Trump had not specified that fact. “Because we believe in protecting not only the concept of law and order, but also the courageous men and women who introduce law and order.”

However, if law and order imply a commitment to equal security and justice, not even Mr Trump’s own staff seem certain that his supporters will adhere to it in the final days of his presidency.

And so the Law and Order Presidency ends as follows: Hundreds of National Guards who are posted behind a ten foot fence with barbed wire and protect the Capitol not from the people Mr. Trump demonized during his presidency, but from those who which he didn’t do.

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Health

Harold N. Bornstein, Trump’s Former Private Doctor, Dies at 73

Harold N. Bornstein, Trump’s Former Personal Physician, Dies at 73

“He dictated this whole letter,” he told CNN. “I did not write this letter.”

Harold Nelson Bornstein was born on March 3, 1947 in New York City, the son of Dr. Jacob and Maida (Seltzer) Bornstein were born. Like his father, he wanted to become a doctor from an early age. A photo in his office showed him as a smiling boy with a stethoscope on a teddy bear in his hand. This is evident from a 2016 profile on the medical news website STAT. In high school he played in a band called Doc Bornstein and the Interns.

Dr. Bornstein moved to Tufts outside of Boston in 1968 and graduated in medicine there in 1975. He was very attached to the university, which 19 members of his extended family had attended over the years. He made an extravagant figure on campus; was a good student, if disrespectful; and wrote poetry under the pseudonym Count Harold.

Dr. Bornstein eventually joined his father in his Manhattan practice and had privileges at Lenox Hill Hospital, also on the Upper East Side. His father had once lived in Jamaica, Queens, near Mr. Trump’s youth home, and a patient of Jacob Bornstein is said to have introduced her. The older Dr. Bornstein died in 2010 at the age of 93.

Dr. Bornstein was proud of the concierge practice that he ran with his father for more than 50 years. “My greatest accomplishments,” he said in a 2017 interview with a Tufts Medical School alumni magazine, “have been avoiding managed care medicine and refusing to have the conservative beard and haircut that my parents used considered necessary for success. “

Dr. Bornstein, who lived north of New York City in Scarsdale, NY, was married three times, most recently to Melissa Brown, who survived him. He is also survived by a daughter, Alix; two sons who are also doctors, Robyn and Joseph; and two other sons, Jeremee and Jackson, according to the published obituary.

Dr. Bornstein was initially pleased with the attention he received as Mr. Trump’s personal physician, although his notoriety later molested him and his family.

On the back of his business cards, reported STAT, was his name and underneath it in Italian the phrase “dottore molto famoso” – “very famous doctor”.