Trump Pardons Two Russia Inquiry Figures and Blackwater Guards

[sabra]

Source: NYTimes

In an audacious pre-Christmas round of pardons, President Trump granted clemency on Tuesday to two people convicted in the special counsel's Russia inquiry, four Blackwater guards convicted in connection with the killing of Iraqi civilians and three corrupt former Republican members of Congress.

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

Also pardoned was Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who pleaded guilty to the same charge in 2018 in connection of the special counsel's inquiry. Both men served short prison sentences.

The Mueller-related pardons are a signal of more to come of people caught up in the investigation, according to people close to the president.



Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/us/politics/trump-pardons.html

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Link to tweet

[PSPS]

1. No surprise. This (and more) is/was expected. The pardon-o-mat will be turned up to 'Lucy' speed now

[winstars]

2. A criminal pardons other criminals, but of course!!!

[MyOwnPeace]

3. "Professional courtesy........"

[spike jones]

4. "I pardon you."

[bluestarone]

5. And it begins

Called the 28 days of pardons. ( proof that his ass is cooked)

[DemoTex]

6. But George Papadopoulos was just a "coffee boy." Did he spill the coffee?

[George II]

11. trump was afraid he'd spill the (coffee) beans.

[Karadeniz]

7. Those Blackwater murderers... no normal human could condone that level of outrageous behavior.

[ancianita]

10. Message to PMC's -- private military companies -- the evil militarization through NDAA's has wrought

[Karadeniz]

13. And Eric Prince so generously offered to organize a mercenary army to replace our military in

Afghanistan. I'm sure he wouldn't have made a fortune out of it. But the thing that appalled me was remembering how his "security" in Iraq had murdered their people. Right after Trump was in the White House, there was a report that Eric Prince had gone there to discuss his and Trump's establishing a covert intelligence system. Then, that news evaporated like Trump's computer hook up to Alfa Bank.

[ancianita]

14. Indeed. There are many more Erik Princes out there who run private militaries. They are

well funded and equipped, and now the nuclear codes have to be changed every time a fascist Republican leaves the White House.

[keithbvadu2]

8. In the long run, Trump will be gone and it will be: 'America condones war crimes'.

In the long run, Trump will be gone and it will be: 'America condones war crimes'.

Whenever America brings up enemy war crimes, they will have a ready-made response.

The Trump legacy.

Donald has given them a strong propaganda tool.

[bucolic_frolic]

9. Thank you, Republican Senate, for contributing to lawlessness

Crime pays. Or at least it paid off for them.

[ancianita]

12. When crime becomes the standard, rule of law gets labeled domestic terrorism.

Crime pays and Dems get stuck with the clean up bills than blamed for raising the debt.

There's more than one strategy at work with Republicans' owners.

[Stuart G]

15. Kick ..

[iluvtennis]

16. Imagine if this young man was your son and murdered by the 4 "guards" that trump pardoned

Qasim Rashid, Esq.@QasimRashid·7m
Imagine if Ali was your son, brutally murdered along with at least 14 other innocent civilians—and Trump pardoned his killers.

That’s what Ali’s family is going through right now. God give them strength.

Link to tweet

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what trump did was this pardon is DISGUSTING. he did it for a pay off from Betsy Devos and Erik Prince

[Skeptical Thomas]

17. And a partridge in a pear tree

A dead one, of course, having been shot by a God-Fearing, Flag-Waving, morbidly obese Amurikun exercising his Second Amendment rights!

(belch)

[eppur_se_muova]

18. "Blackwater Guards", bka blackguards. nt

[oasis]

19. Four muderers pardoned. Trump will never be GOP nominee again.

That's for damn sure.

[ck4829]

21. Maybe... Then again, seeing what the GOP is turning into...

They'll probably be asking "Were the PARDONED murderers... white? Socialist? Democrats?"

Good lord, they'll probably be demanding potential nominees ritually sacrifice "one of the poors" to thwart the "left-wing demons" to prove their conviction to the cause by 2024 rolls around.

[rockfordfile]

20. Corruption. You will hear from those same pos down the road

[mahatmakanejeeves]

22. "... 88 percent aided someone with a personal tie to the president or furthered his political aims."

RubiconHat Retweeted

"A tabulation by the Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith found that of the 45 pardons or commutations Mr. Trump had granted up until Tuesday, 88 percent aided someone with a personal tie to the president or furthered his political aims.”

Link to tweet