I Was the President’s Pardon Attorney. He’s Making a Mockery of the Pardon Process.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/26/opinion/trump-biden-presidential-pardons.html

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70 points · 4 comments · view on lemmy.world

4 Comments

aberrate_junior_beatnik@midwest.social · 18 pts · 231d

I was fine with sending people to foreign torture prisons and starving children by illegally cutting USAID and SNAP funding but this is a step too far

pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 231d

He was supposed to be a non-partisan staff memeber:

In my time as the pardon attorney, I led a team of approximately 40 lawyers and others whose sole job was to scrutinize applications for clemency. My tenure began during Mr. Biden’s administration and continued into the early weeks of Mr. Trump’s second term, but almost as soon as he took office, it became clear that my counsel was not wanted.

On Inauguration Day, I read the news that he had pardoned about 1,500 people accused of crimes in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Though I had not been consulted, my staff and I were still expected to begin facilitating the releases of all those incarcerated. Over the next three days, 27 more pardons were granted, all without even a nod to the traditional role of the Justice Department in advising the president on pardons.

UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 231d (1 reply)

The pardon process is, and has always been, a fundraising tool for Presidential Libraries.

Anyone pretending otherwise is a fucking liar and shouldn't be trusted

caffinatedone@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 231d

Bull.