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Trump plans over 100 pardons on his last day in office amid reports his allies are selling them: report
January 17, 2021
President Donald Trump is expected to issue about 100 pardons on his final day in office on Tuesday, CNN reported.
Trump's last full day will show "a mixture of more controversial pardons to white-collar criminals, some high-profile rappers, some of the president's political allies."
<p>The report didn't say whether or not Trump and his family will be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/us/politics/trump-pardons.html" target="_blank">among the pardons</a>. To issue a pardon, however, Trump would have to outline the crimes he and his family committed in specific detail. </p><p><a href="https://www.rawstory.com/trump-pardons-2649965885/" target="_blank">A report earlier Sunday revealed</a> that Trump's allies have been selling pardons. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/giuliani-associate-reportedly-trump-pardon-costs-2-million-nyt-2021-1" target="_blank">Rudy Giuliani specifically demanded $2 million</a> for a pardon from a former CIA officer. Giuliani is also working to get a pardon for himself. </p><p>"One lobbyist, Brett Tolman, a former federal prosecutor who has been advising the White House on pardons and commutations, has monetized his clemency work, collecting tens of thousands of dollars, and possibly more, in recent weeks to lobby the White House for clemency for the son of a former Arkansas senator; the founder of the notorious online drug marketplace Silk Road; and a Manhattan socialite who pleaded guilty in a fraud scheme," the <em>New York Times</em> reported. </p><p>It's unclear how many of Trump's pardons will stand, as each <a href="https://www.lawfareblog.com/can-congress-do-anything-about-trumps-abuse-pardon-power" target="_blank">will likely be investigated for potential bribery</a>. </p><p>Some of the insurrectionists from last week's attack on the U.S. Capitol are blaming Trump for inviting them <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-01-17/alleged-capitol-rioters-argue-they-were-invited-into-the-building-by-trump-seek-pardons" target="_blank">and demanding that they also be pardoned</a>. </p>
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The long-held Republican nightmare that a champion of working-class people and the common good—one who has dedicated his political career to curbing poverty and injustice while denouncing corporate greed, endless war, and the cruelty of a for-profit health system that leaves millions upon millions uninsured or without affordable access to care—would assume the powerful position of chairing the Senate Budget Committee is about to become a reality.
"Time to face the harsh reality, socialist Bernie Sanders will become the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. He has vowed to use his position to enact his progressive agenda on healthcare, climate, infrastructure spending, and cutting defense spending," Nikki Haley tweeted Saturday.
<p>While it came from Trump's former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations as a kind of ominous warning, Sanders' wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders, was among those who shot back with a clever and simple quip. "Yes he has," she <a href="https://twitter.com/janeosanders/status/1350617424442359808" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a> in response.</p><p><br/></p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b742a97ad168d9956a2de56d505e5478" id="86eac"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1350617424442359808"><div style="margin:1em 0">Yes he has. https://t.co/wh9MGyj82h</div> — Jane O'Meara Sanders (@Jane O'Meara Sanders)<a href="https://twitter.com/janeosanders/statuses/1350617424442359808">1610847261.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><br/></p> <p>Not that Jane Sanders was alone:</p><p><br/></p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c240b163d6ff80ae0e8291a8f1ed960b" id="77175"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1350619391961014274"><div style="margin:1em 0">Imagine being horrified by the prospect of spending more money on things that make life better for people everywher… https://t.co/RH6iC1mlan</div> — Sandeep Vaheesan (@Sandeep Vaheesan)<a href="https://twitter.com/sandeepvaheesan/statuses/1350619391961014274">1610847730.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><br/></p> <p>"You forgot to mention raising the minimum wage and taxing your rich friends," the organizing group People for Bernie <a href="https://twitter.com/People4Bernie/status/1350525538553667584" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a> back at Haley.</p><p>Republican fears of Sanders taking over the committee <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/21/13358274/paul-ryan-bernie-sanders" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">go back to at least 2016</a> when Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, then-Speaker of the GOP-controlled House, said ahead of that year's election: "If we lose the Senate, do you know who becomes chair of the Senate Budget Committee? A guy named Bernie Sanders. You ever heard of him?"</p><p><br/></p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a89ab8084e9f3f62cac19d5d431037a4" id="ac245"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1349120982620004354"><div style="margin:1em 0">We are lucky to be alive to see Paul Ryan's worst nightmare come true
https://t.co/Uj1axyzdI5</div> — Olivia Becker (@Olivia Becker)<a href="https://twitter.com/oliviaLbecker/statuses/1349120982620004354">1610490482.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><br/></p> <p>The GOP trepidation over such a reality is about to materialize now that Democrats have seized razor-thin majority control of the Senate. And, while the gavel is yet to be placed in his hand, Sanders and his staff have signaled in recent days that he will be ready and willing to wield it to push the incoming Biden administration—as well as Democratic leadership in the House and Senate—to enact the kind of bold, working-class friendly policies that fueled both of his presidential runs.</p><p>Among the chief powers that the chair of the committee will utilize is fostering legislation through the Senate using the budget reconciliation process—a procedural tool that will allow, even under current rules, legislation to pass with a simple majority.</p><p>On Sunday, Sanders posted this social media:</p><p><br/></p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="aaaeb80c8dd127cd4e7b20635c8c26b3" id="2f516"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1350852990635274246"><div style="margin:1em 0">For too long our country has prioritized corporate profits, tax cuts for the rich and military spending over invest… https://t.co/SJlHlMR9c0</div> — Bernie Sanders (@Bernie Sanders)<a href="https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/statuses/1350852990635274246">1610903425.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><br/></p> <p>"Yes, we can, and we must use budget reconciliation to increase the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour with a simple majority vote in the Senate, just like Republicans did to pass massive tax breaks to the 1%," <a href="https://twitter.com/GunnelsWarren/status/1350250068746657793" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">declared</a> Warren Gunnels, one of Sanders' most senior aides who went out of the way to identify himself as the "Incoming Majority Staff Director" for the "Senate Budget Committee" in a tweet Friday morning.</p><p>Following the Democratic wins in Georgia that gave the party back the majority in the Senate, Sanders <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/12/bernie-sanders-big-budget-plans-458461" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">told</a> <em>Politico</em> in an interview that he has no plans to be sheepish from his perch atop the committee.</p><p>"I'm going to use reconciliation in as aggressive a way as I possibly can to address the terrible health and economic crises facing working people today," Sanders told the news outlet. "As we speak, my staff and I are working. We're working with Biden's people. We're working with Democratic leadership. We'll be working with my colleagues in the House to figure out how we can come up with the most aggressive reconciliation bill to address the suffering of the American working families today."</p><p>Nina Turner, national co-chair of Sanders' 2020 campaign and now running for U.S. House in her home state of Ohio, has been among those in the progressive movement championing the legislative potential of his powerful new roll in the Senate:</p><p><br/></p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8f9a0cd30c137e0c42d7da2acf7ced22" id="2d9d9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1349119747833606149"><div style="margin:1em 0">Go Big, Mr. Chairman. We have a moral imperative. Hello Somebody🙌🏾
https://t.co/7np4HnUuDE</div> — Nina Turner (@Nina Turner)<a href="https://twitter.com/ninaturner/statuses/1349119747833606149">1610490187.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><br/></p> <p>In a tweet on Saturday evening, Sanders himself <a href="https://twitter.com/BernieSanders/status/1350584617682796547" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">stated</a>: "When Republicans controlled the Senate, they used the reconciliation process to provide huge tax breaks for the rich and large corporations. We're going to use reconciliation to protect working families, the sick and the poor."</p>
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'I listen to my president': Capitol rioter incriminates Trump while groveling for his pardon
January 17, 2021
With friends like rabid supporter Jenna Ryan, Donald Trump doesn't need enemies.
Ryan is the North Texas real estate agent who made national headlines for peddling her services while storming the U.S. Capitol. But facing the prospect that her next fixer-upper might be a prison cell, Ryan went on Dallas' CBS TV affiliate and made her bad situation worse.
<p>"I just want people to know I'm a normal person. That I listen to my president who told me to go to the Capitol. That I was displaying my patriotism while I was there and I was just protesting and I wasn't trying to do anything violent and I didn't realize there was actually violence," Ryan said. "I'd just like to apologize for all of the families that are affected by any of the negative environment and I'd just like to say I really love people and I am not a villain that a lot of people would make me out to be, or people think I am, because I was a Trump supporter at the Capitol."</p>
<p>"I think we all deserve a pardon. I'm facing a prison sentence. I think I do not deserve that and from what I understand, every person is going to be arrested that was there, so I think everyone deserves a pardon, so I would ask the President of the United States to give me a pardon."</p>
<p>Ryan, who either doesn't have a lawyer or apparently needs a new one, didn't do the Trump legal defense team any favor by placing herself at the Capitol in direct response to his incitement. And as for that whole "didn't realize there was actually violence" thing, she'll probably wish the FBI hadn't been paying such close attention to her social media posts from the Capitol.</p>
<p>In the arrest warrant filed by FBI special agent Amie C. Stemen, <a href="https://bit.ly/38SNjSf" target="_blank">Ryan doesn't quite come off as Mahatma Gandhi</a>:</p><p>"On January 6, 2021, Ryan posted photographs of herself at the U.S. Capitol building grounds to her social media accounts, including Facebook and Twitter. Of particular note is an image Ryan posted of herself to her Twitter account, which depicts Ryan in front of a broken window at the U.S. Capitol building, with the caption "Window at The capital [sic]. And if the news doesn't stop lying about us we're going to come after their studios next..." </p><p>Presumably, that might be why CBS 11 in Dallas chose to interview Ryan in front of her house, rather than at the station. But the best part of Ryan's Capitol tour--not given much attention in the media--was contained in this prose from the FBI agent:</p><p>"Open source searches also uncovered a now-deleted Facebook live video taken by Ryan as she entered the Capitol building via the Rotunda entrance. The video was captured prior to deletion and reposted to YouTube for public viewing. The video shows Ryan in a large crowd attempting to walk through the entrance to the Capitol, which had visibly broken windows at the time. At the beginning of the live video, Ryan is heard stating, "we are going to f---ing go in here. Life or death, it doesn't matter. Here we go," as she approaches the top of the stairs in front of the columns immediately in front of the doors on the West side of the U.S. Capitol building. Ryan then turned on her rear facing camera--exposing her face-- and stated, "y'all know who to hire for your realtor. Jenna Ryan for your realtor." By minute 08:45 of the video, Ryan has made it to the front door of the building, clearly desecrated, with broken glass windows shattered, and security alarms sounding, as she yells "U-S-A! U-S-A!" and "here we are, in the name of Jesus!" Once inside the building among the crowd, Ryan is heard joining a chant "Fight for freedom! Fight for freedom!" and yelling, "this is our house!" </p><p>This is the fullest context we have for the most intriguing real-estate commercial ever. Plus, it's the only Jesus reference attributed to the insurrectionists, who have heretofore been more notable for their horns and Confederate and Trump flags.</p>
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