On Wednesday, President Trump pardoned Michael Flynn from lying to the FBI. As controversial as this may be, it will not be the last of Trump's pardons. He plans to pardon Rick Gates as well as George Papadopoulos who were both convicted of lying about the Russia Investigation of the last election.
Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI twice and was pardoned regardless. Trump hinted that he would pardon Flynn back in March but has not mentioned it until he finalized the pardon this week. According to the Justice Department they concluded that Trump’s pardon was an appropriate use of the pardon power but they were not told ahead of time. This is definitely a little strange and displays how the president was not sure that his pardon would be approved if he had run it through the Justice Department beforehand. One of the department's officials announced that they would have rathered the pardon be done in court which may have been why he pardoned Flynn with no recent warning.
Personally I am not a fan of the presidential pardon being used in this way. I think that the pardon should be reserved for lesser known people or people that have been charged with drug charges. I do not think that someone should be let off the hook for the lying to the FBI
How do you feel about President Trump pardoning Flynn and potentially other criminally charged members of his cabinet?
Do you think that this kind of pardoning should be allowed?
6 comments:
After looking at the reasoning and legality behind presidential pardons, it seems that if someone is pardoned, it does not mean they are innocent. The presidential pardon is normally given as a result of the accused taking responsibility for the crime and exhibiting good behavior, and used to restore some of their rights. Although it may initially seem like a weird power to have, I can understand its uses and there seems to have been effective cases in the past. However, even though the President can issue a pardon, it doesn't mean they should just give it away so easily. I don't have much knowledge on Flynn's crime or how he's taken accountability or been better, however it seems as if this is kind of like a last ditch use of Trump's powers before his presidency ends. If Trump is simply using this pardon for corrupt and unknown reasons, which is a pretty big possibility, then this is definitely an unfortunate case and abuse of his powers.
With only weeks left in office, I think Trump is trying to get as much mileage out of his presidential powers as he can. Pardoning these nasty people for lying to the FBI seems strange, and looks like just a group of friends getting away scot-free because they know the guy with the pardoning power. The pardon is supposed to be used to show the President's care for those individuals whose crimes are on a different level of severity, not people everyone knows lied to a federal agency. It looks like this Thanksgiving, the bird wasn't the only Turkey Trump pardoned. I don't understand how this is supposed to help Trump or the people he pardoned in the media. I agree with Brian -- this power can definitely be useful, and a good tool for the President, but not like this. Trump is getting generous with his pardons, and judging by the amount of time he has left in office, it looks like he's getting desperate.
The only reason I can see a president going out of their way to pardon someone is to help themselves or to correct one of their own wrongs. For example, if President Trump forced government officials to lie, then maybe a pardon would be more in-place. We just don't see that. I think another good scenario would be to pardon someone of a false accusation quickly (rather than taking it through the courts).However, in this scenario, neither of these things are happening - the men involved committed a crime. Yes, it is in Trump's power to pardon them, but it doesn't make it justified. Is it expected for him to? I would say so. This whole concept of the Trump administration sticking together and giving unjust benefits to those who aid has been seen in the past in the presidency (for example, in the exact case that was being discussed: the Russian allegations). Likewise, the republican party may have scrutinized Trump for not doing so. It's corrupt, and that isn't how it should be, but that is currently how our political system is being run. I am very interested in seeing how these kinds of events will unfold when President Elect Biden takes power.
Historically, presidential pardons have been controversial--an example is when Ford pardoned Nixon for his crimes in the Watergate scandal. It is easy to see why Trump’s pardon would be considered controversial. I believe that although Trump’s pardon was allowed, it was not used wisely. Flynn committed a crime when he lied to the FBI. He pleaded guilty and should at least be punished for it. A presidential pardon can be justified if the recipient has demonstrated an improvement in character and facing the consequences of their actions, such as by serving a sentence, but Trump’s pardon is not along those lines. As Trump’s term in office approaches to an end, I wonder if he will be, as Nathan said, a lot more generous with his pardons.
One thing to note is that even though Trump speaks fondly of his power to pardon, throughout his term he has only granted 45 people executive clemency. In comparison, Obama granted 1,927 people executive clemency in his two terms and 330 people commutations just on his last day in office.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/most-clemency-grants-bypass-doj-and-go-to-well-connected-offenders/2020/02/03/4e8f3eb2-21ce-11ea-9c2b-060477c13959_story.html
Even though this pardon is controversial, it is not surprising considering Trump's previous ties with Flynn. The same goes for Gates and Papadopoulos-- they both have ties to the Trump administration. Personally, I don't see any reason why Trump would not issue pardons to them. Sure, it may be corrupt, but the administration has been corrupt in the past as well (I mean, that's why so many of them are facing criminal charges in the first place). Only issuing pardons after good behavior would be out of character and, frankly, hypocritical of Trump considering the fact that he is not righteous either. Why would he pardon only those who have demonstrated character improvement when he won't own up to / correct his own wrongs? It doesn't make sense. More pardons should definitely be expected in the coming weeks.
I wholeheartedly agree with Nathan and Peter regarding the correct usage and Trump's goal. I think Trump is just trying to get as many little things done on his way out as possible. And I also think that, following Trump's characteristics, he would really only pardon someone that he thought would help him in some way. Although he didn't overstep his bounds on pardoning powers and he wasn't legally in the wrong, I think he wasn't morally sound. The point of a pardon is meant to be used on people that have been wrongfully convicted or were given an unproportionate amount of time for their crime among a few other reasons. I don't think that him pardoning someone that lied to the FBI on multiple occasions and pled guilty twice is someone that should be pardoned. Just because Trump is ABLE to do it, doesn't mean that he SHOULD or that it's justified. Additionally, if Trump's motive is for self-gain or just to do it because it angers others or some other reason like that, it's just downright corrupt and an abuse of his powers.
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