Posted on 11/27/2019 6:47:36 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Amazingly, the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have found something to talk about that doesn’t have to do with impeachment, at least yet, anyway. Patrick Leahy and Sheldon Whitehouse would like a word about those pardons, and they’re not talking about the turkeys that were let off the hook yesterday. The pardons issued for three Navy SEALs are on their minds, and the Senators would like to investigate just how they came about. (The Hill)
Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, are pressing the Department of Justice to answer questions about President Trump’s pardons of U.S. soldiers accused of war crimes.
The Democratic senators want to know whether the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney was involved in the decisions to pardon soldiers accused of unlawful military executions, including fatal shootings of unarmed civilians.
They also asked whether the Justice Department issued any advice or recommendations to the White House and whether it coordinated at all with the Department of Defense, where senior officials were initially opposed to the pardons.
Let’s look at the details being sought by Leahy and Whitehouse. First, they want to know if the President consulted the Office of the Pardon Attorney before issuing the pardons. For those not familiar, the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the DOJ “assists the President in the exercise of executive clemency.” They review pardon requests and provide recommendations to the President. That’s all. They don’t have any authority to force the approval of a pardon request or deny one. The President isn’t legally required to obtain their approval.
The Senators would also like to know whether “the Justice Department issued any advice or recommendations.” Given that the Office of the Pardon Attorney is part of the Justice Department, don’t you suppose they would have handled that? But, again, the President isn’t required to consult with the DoJ.
Leahy and Whitehouse are also asking if Trump coordinated at all with the Department of Defense. Obviously. Several senior people at the DoD weighed in and they all thought the pardons were a bad idea. Trump ignored them. He is also not required to “coordinate” with anyone at Defense when making decisions about pardons, though in the case of the military, it would certainly have been a good idea.
There, Senators. I’ve saved you the fuss and muss of an entire investigation in three short paragraphs.
The crazy (or crazier) part of all this is that these two Senators clearly know that this investigation is a dead end before it begins. In their letter, they reference the Office of the Pardon Attorney and write, “The President’s pardon powers are virtually absolute. That is precisely why safeguards must be in place to ensure that they are wielded judiciously – institutional safeguards like your office, which exists to ensure that the President’s pardon powers are exercised fairly and in the interests of justice.”
They could have stopped with the first sentence and eliminated the word “virtually.” (Well… there are some questions as to whether or not the President can pardon himself, but aside from that, the power is absolute when it comes to anyone charged with a federal crime.) The Office of the Pardon Attorney is not a “safeguard” in any sense of the word. They have no power to stop a pardon or force the President to issue one. Theirs is an advisory role.
As I’ve written from the beginning of this saga, I believe these pardons and other interventions involving the three SEALs were a bad idea. It undermines the chain of command and sets a bad example for all of our warfighters. But the fact is if I wanted to be the person making decisions about military pardons I should have run for President. Such decisions are Trump’s alone to make for as long as he’s in office and history will be his judge in such matters.
These Big Rats don’t give up. Looking for stuff to apply to impeachment hoax. Their not fooling anyone.
Who needs ISIS when you have demonicRAT Senators?
It’s not your call, dems... he’s the CinC, so STFU.
That is the Dem game plan until the election. “Investigations” of everything Trump says or does. Sadly, their base will consider them to be “checking and balancing”.
To answe: “Because.”
The President’s power to pardon is absolute, it’s plainly written in the Constitution. Former President Clinton pardoned his drug dealing brother, an act that should have elicited howls of disapproval from everyone no matter their political loyalty but there was nothing that could be done about it, it was within his power.
Trump is President, he doesn’t have to explain why he pardons anyone.
Because they would rather be political busy bodies that actually do something important and useful. Being a Dim Senator is about getting the attention of the media, most importantly. The rest is just if they have time left over away from the media.
“It undermines the chain of command”
How does it do that?
Decisions are overturned by people up the chain of command all the time. That’s what happened with the pardons - Trump was told what the JAG people had in mind and he countermanded it.
Where the chain of command was breached was when some of the upper echelon guys decided they didn’t like the CIC decision and tried to chip away at it - can’t keep the ribbons, can’t stay in grade, etc.
It was clear that the intent of the pardons were to wipe the slate clean. They could have abided by that decision but they decided to buck the chain of command.
Tweeted to Leahy:
“Where were you when Clinton pardoned Marc Rich - or when Obama pardoned drug dealers?
I guess actual criminals deserve pardons and warriors who defend our FReedom need to be railroaded...sickening.”
Rich immediately came to mind as soon as I saw the title
Its really none of their damn business what the CiC does with military pardons. Absolutely none. Nada. Zip!
Not only that but what “oversight” is the congress doing if it pertains to a constitutional duty of the President? I’ll answer that one: NADA. This should be shut down immediately.
Article II. Trump is CnC and has absolute pardon power. None of your business.
The Constitution means nothing to RATs.
The democrats are piling on. They seek to cast doubts on every move Trump makes and criminalize it. Smear techniques.
I noticed that Bloomberg and Steyer are spending millions of dollars in Trump hating ads now, working in tandem with the impeachment hoax.
The globalists are intent on total destruction of Trump in the public mind. They are willing to spend whatever it takes.
The pardons were absolutely correct. What must be done is a complete review of the JAG system. The other problem was the rules of engagement we force on our military. Naturally we don’t want intentionally cruel behavior but in both of the cases of the pardons those were not cruelty, they were understandable and our military should have taken their side. With Gallager, it was stupid to try to take his Trident for killing an enemy and taking a photo.
I remember out contractors burned bodies hanging on a bridge, and I remember seeing the ajordanian pilot urned alive. A photo with a dead ISIS member is not an excuse to take his Trident especially with him retiring. It was the most laughable case of red ass I have ever seen.
Where were these losers when Obama pardoned Manning and treated Bergdhaj like a returning war hero when both were traitors .and should have met the firing squad.
None of their f*ckin’ business. The President’s pardon and commutation power is absolute and he doesn’t have to give a reason.
President Trump isn’t required to seek the Democrats’ approval to issue them.
DOJ - The President exercised his Constitutional authority.
DOD - We followed orders given to us by CinC
Now...go pound sand.
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