'Merry Freaking Christmas': CNN's John Berman Unloads Holiday Hot Take on Trump Pardons

https://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2020/12/24/merry-freaking-christmas-cnns-john-berman-unloads-holiday-hot ^ | 12/24/2020 | Mark Finkelstien

[rktman]

JOHN BERMAN: It’s Christmas eve, but that doesn’t even begin to tell the story. So, if you are unemployed this morning, we can’t tell you if you’re going to get that next relief check. If you’re a service member, that pay raise, maybe not.

But if you lied to the Mueller investigation, or are related to Jared Kushner: Merry Freaking Christmas!

And who knows what else is in store for the next 27 days? This political acid trip that kicks off this morning in Mar-a-Lago. Overnight, President Trump pardoned his longtime allies, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, both of whom refused to cooperate with the Mueller probe. He also pardoned Jared Kushner’s father. Republican Senator Ben Sasse summed it up in one sentence, saying quote, this is rotten to the core.

On a personal note: as per this CNN story, Berman is Jewish, as am I. It is particularly embarrassing and shameful to me that a fellow Jew would make such a vulgar and disrespectful comment. I apologize on behalf of all Jews, and to all who celebrate, wish a Very Merry Christmas.

[rktman]

And apparently he did a lot of prep and research before going on his rant. As follows:

Since taking office as the 45th president of the United States on January 20, 2017, Donald Trump, according to Mark Knoller, has granted executive clemency to 92 individuals charged or convicted of federal criminal offenses, as authorized under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.[1] Ordinarily, all requests for executive clemency for federal offenses are directed to the Office of the Pardon Attorney (OPA) in the U.S. Department of Justice for review; however, Trump has frequently bypassed the OPA, and the majority of his executive clemency grants have been to well-connected convicted persons who did not file a petition with the OPA or meet the OPA's requirements.[2]

And then we have law and order 44:

By the end of his second and final term on January 20, 2017, United States President Barack Obama had exercised his constitutional power to grant the executive clemency—that is, "pardon, commutation of sentence, remission of fine or restitution, and reprieve"[1]—to 1,927 individuals convicted of federal crimes. Of the acts of clemency, 1,715 were commutations (including 504 life sentences) and 212 were pardons.[2][3] Most individuals granted executive clemency by Obama had been convicted on drug charges,[4] and had received lengthy and sometimes mandatory sentences at the height of the war on drugs.[5]

Obama holds the record for the largest single-day use of the clemency power, granting 330 commutations on January 19, 2017, his last full day in office.[6][7] He also issued more commutations than the past 13 presidents combined.[2][8]

Links in next next response.