Posted on 11/09/2016 12:55:50 PM PST by Sub-Driver
November 09, 2016, 02:10 pm White House spokesman mum on Clinton pardon
By Jordan Fabian
The White House on Wednesday refused to rule out the possibility that President Obama would pardon Hillary Clinton to prevent President-elect Donald Trump from prosecuting her when he takes office.
But Obama spokesman Josh Earnest stressed that the president is hopeful Trump will continue the longstanding tradition of not using the criminal-justice system to exact revenge on political opponents.
“The president has offered clemency to a substantial number of Americans who were previously serving time in federal prisons,” Earnest said during his daily press briefing. “We didn’t talk in advance about those decisions.”
The spokesman said, however, that Obama was encouraged by Trump’s “tone” during his victory speech early Wednesday morning, when he praised Clinton for a hard-fought campaign and pledged to bring the country together.
"Hillary has worked very hard over a long period of time and we owe her a major debt for her service to our country," Trump said.
Trump’s tone was significantly different last month, when he threatened to jail his Democratic opponent if he won the election over Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of State.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
If he waits until the new congress is in session they can investigate the Clinton Foundation. They can haul her in front of congress, make her testify and then zap her for perjury when she lies. Not if, when. No pardon then.
It's not even known what, if any, specific crimes she might have committed. With Nixon, it was known. John Dean, among others, ratted him out.
HRC is neutalized as a political entity, and she's still a criminal. Done and done. Have the subpoenas ready on January 21.
Is that legal?
If he pardons her it clearly will show she has engaged in criminality. Its a double edged sword.
Pardoning a recidivist is like swearing that a horse will never crap again.
Though I suspect the price just went up substantially, as hillary can no longer do likewise for soebarkah.
They’re hoping he continues the tradition of the elites making sure that the laws that apply to the commoners don’t apply to anyone in their private club.
She can be pardoned the same way Ford pardoned Nixon. Pardon for any and all crimes.
If King Opie is dishing out pardons to protect himself he had better include Bill Clinton, Chelsea and Marc Mezvinsky, Marina Santos (Hillary’s maid), John Podesta, Bryan Pagliano, Huma Abedin, Cheryl Mills, Heather Samuelson, Paul Combetta, John Bentel and a few hundred others involved in the Clinton Crime Family’s various scams.
“hopeful Trump will continue the longstanding tradition of not using the criminal-justice system to exact revenge on political opponents.” This is typical Dem red herring. They try to make it sound like he would be doing it for revenge for a political opponent. When in truth, it would have nothing to do with politics, but all about the rule of law and that no one is above the law. Just let the FBI continue their investigation and see where it leads. Trump doesn’t have to do anything, and in fact shouldn’t because that would be interfering and making the Justice Dept political —LIKE OBAMA DID.
By that logic every criminal is going to start running for office as a way to immunize themselves from prosecution.
Obama is deciding if he wants payback for 08’
I’ll bet he has a few staffers going over wiki leaks to see what clinton and Co. has been saying about him behind his back....
He will either take passive aggressive revenge by not issuing a pardon...
Or use what he finds to bump up the clinton foundation’s contribution to his presidential liberry in Chicago
No way can Obama pardon her for the Foundation stuff.
We know some of them from Director Comey's explicit explanations in his July 05 speech.
There are already multiple outstanding FBI investigations of the Clintons, their cronies and the Clinton Foundation which can put all of them in jail for the rest of their lives.
A Foundation cannot receive a pardon and if the Clinton foundation goes down the Clinton’s lose everything even if they are pardoned.
Also, if Obama pardons Clinton, that actually makes it easier for the information of what she did to come out in oversight hearings.
Obama can only pardon Hillary for crimes in his federal jurisdiction so states could still indict the Clintons for state crimes.
If the truth comes out, public opinion will be very negative for the Clintons and the public will be looking to make the Clinton’s pay.
Both Hillary and Obama are under indictment in Egypt for the for their active roles in the Arab Spring and the crimes are serious and may carry a death penalty.
If Clinton really pisses off the American people with her pardon, President Trump always has the option of extraditing Clinton to Egypt to stand trial.
Anyone hear anything from old Billy boy? Maybe he and Weiner are digging their own graves at gun point as we speak.
Yes, you can pardon someone proactively. At least, it has been done before. Consider the pardon of Nixon by Ford, or the blanket pardon of deserters and draft card burners by Carter. In many (most?) cases, charges had not been filed, but this was a way for the president to say "don't bother".
This (NYT) "letter to the editor" from 1988 goes into some of the nitty gritty... and though it's just a letter to the editor, it's facts are spot on: Pardon before conviction
Fair use quote of the salient bit: The leading Supreme Court case is Ex parte Garland (1867). Justice Stephen J. Field, writing for the Court in a 5-4 decision, held that the President's pardoning power is ''unlimited,'' and ''It extends to every offense known to the law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are taken, or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment.''
If Hillary is pardoned, she will no longer be imperiled for her freedom - she would no longer retain 5th amendment protections against self-incrimination. She could be compelled to testify about others (maybe a former president) who advised, discussed, or participated in the emailing. She could be compelled to testify against her former assistants and attorneys and contractors who advised or administrated the illegal server. I’m thinking Huma, Mills, Podesta, Platte River, etc.
Trump should still hold the trials and show the public what happened which would then show everyone the value of the pardon.
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