Originally published at http://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/25/one-more-stain-trumps-rapidly-diminishing-legacy-president-pardons-former-adviser
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“Michael Flynn will face no consequences for lying to the FBI, undermining prosecutors, and betraying the country.”
What a travesty. Flynn is a total admitted traitor to America and faces no consequences for his treason of betraying the country and yet Chelsea Manning is a patriotic, American who told the truth and she is still in jail!
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President “what’s in it for me?” strikes again!
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Flaming Orange Satan tRump is the biggest lying sac of shit EVER and I remember that lying sac of shit and dick, Nixon! tRump’s peabrain supporters are the most useful idiot pawns EVER, surpassing the useful idiocy of that dick, Nixon’s pawns. Republicans continue to be the embodiment of stupidity and death.
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First of many my friends. He’s gonna get writers cramp from signing so many pardons between now and January 20.
What a fucking joke this nation has become.
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- Flynn did not have a lawyer present with him when interviewed by FBI agents, notice - plural agents.
- The FBI threatened Flynn that they would go after his son if he did not plead guilty.
- The FBI is legally permitted to lie to me - and it is a felony or high misdeamenor if I lie to them, or forget a detail, or a name, place, thing.
- Politics = The FBI had no business investigating Flynns conversations with Russians. He was incoming NSC guy and had every right to confidential talks with friends and adversaries. It was none of McCabe, Comey need to know.
- Do not think for one minute that FBI are super ethical.
- Flynn is said to have been fired for lying to Pence. Today, with 258,000+ already dead from Pences no show cordova task force, prosecute Pence for manslaughter, genocide (blacks and Mexicans here)
Yes, I will sit in a cell to spare any family member. That’s how clans work.
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The pardons are all that is left, if you were not expecting this…you haven’t been paying attention. The Maxwell pardon will draw the most scrutiny from the left and be ignored by the mainstream media. Plus it will be interesting to see if he pardons himself or defers to pence or gets a solid from Banker Joe. The kids and family Pardons should be done around the holidays. I think he will pardon himself for state crimes and take it to the supreme court. Should be lots of noise. Sound and Fury…
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This has Putin written all over it.
And now that he’s pardoned, make him explain who he was lying for and what he was covering up! In other words make him lie again, but after the 20th.
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The one shining spot of this corrupt act that Donald Trump most likely refused to listen to, is that since Flynn has now been pardoned, if he is called to testify in the future against Trump, he “cannot” refuse to testify by taking the 5th.
My guess is Flynn will be back in prison within the year for refusing to testify against the “Orange Reality TV Presidential Impersonator.”
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I don’t care for Flynn’s politics, but it’s sad that he’ll end up taking a pardon and admitting guilt when the whole affair was made up bullshit to cover Hillary’s misbehavior.
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The presidential pardon is a travesty; it allows one person to totally circumvent the law. In this case and Stone( a developmental error on two legs) for the benefit of the pardoner. It really smells like something out of a monarchy; where the king is the law.
The most famous case is Gerald Ford pardoning Nixon, after Tricky Dick was forced to resign. Those were the days when even Republican Senators had some integrity; as they informed him he would not survive a Senate trial for impeachment, and needed to go for the good of the country and the party. The domestic crimes (sending some of our best youth to Vietnam excluded) of Nixon pale compared to Trump
Now there are some cases like miscarriage of justice or extenuating circumstances where it is appropriate. But to make it fair their should be some sort of committee or Congressional approval to provide some checks on this unlimited authority.
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No lover of Flynn but wasn’t this what he was doing with Russia , at the request of Jared Kushner (as reported by Mondoweiss)?
“Flynn called the Russian ambassador, and [a “litany” of other countries], to try to get them to counter the U.S. decision to allow a resolution highly critical of Israeli settlements to pass in the U.N. Security Council.”
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Judge Sullivan in Flynn’s case:
“All along, you were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security advisor to the president of the United States. That undermines everything this flag over here stands for. Arguably you sold your country out.”
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Your point is good, but I don’t think Chelsea Manning is still in jail, unless I’ve missed something.
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Russiagate was bullshit created to distract us from the fact that Obama was an awful president and Hillary was a terrible candidate that never should have been (s)elected as the Democratic candidate to replace him.
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Oldie has it right: the case against Flynn was a travesty. This pardon should never have been necessary but, in the circumstances, it is justifiable.
The entire "Russiagate’ episode was a disgrace. It is sad to see people still promoting it here.
Finally: does anyone imagine for a moment that Biden’s nominees for the Cabinet are not in contact with foreign governments, diplomats etc?
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“[The President] shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”
The president has the power to pardon anyone convicted or charged with a federal crime, and may even pre-emptively pardon someone (Gerald Ford and Nixon). Put on your seatbelts because this will be the first of many. About the only unsettled issue is whether a president can pardon himself, which I expect Trump to do and the Supreme Court to uphold. Impeachment was supposed to be a limiting factor but the House refuses to use it as an “arrow in its quiver.” (Remember, Slick Willie pardoned his brother who was in prison on federal drug charges.)
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Mr. Trump’s choice of day - the same day that he pardoned two turkeys.
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Exactly right. Group think is not restricted to the MAGA crowd.
I’m getting tired of this platform. The left needs (much) better.
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Shame on Common Dreams for portraying outrage as the progressive position on this. At least include Glenn Greenwald’s twitter thread:
“The Flynn prosecution was an abuse of FBI power, politically motivated, and a violation of the long-time liberal-left view, best expressed by RBG, that lying to FBI without more isn’t even a crime. But liberals cheered it because they’re authoritarians:”
~https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1331732311268843526
Or Aaron Maté’s:
“The Flynn case was baseless. To obscure that, the Mueller team tried to concoct a phony narrative that Flynn & the Russian ambassador discussed sanctions, thereby fueling collusion/quid pro quo conspiracy theories. The actual transcript of the Flynn calls shows that to be false:”
~https://twitter.com/aaronjmate/status/1331719699965636608
Or Michael Tracey’s:
“The prosecution of Flynn was a total farce and it should theoretically be possible to recognize this even if you hate Trump”
~https://twitter.com/mtracey/status/1331741745277784067
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