Posted on 04/26/2022 9:49:10 AM PDT by re_tail20
President Joe Biden on Tuesday pardoned Abraham Bolden, the Chicago man who was the first Black Secret Service agent to serve on a White House detail, who maintained charges against him that led to prison time were trumped up.
Bolden “has steadfastly maintained his innocence, arguing that he was targeted for prosecution in retaliation for exposing unprofessional and racist behavior within the U.S. Secret Service,” the White House said in announcing Biden’s clemency actions.
Biden pardoned three people, including Bolden and commuted the sentences of 75 other people serving long sentences for nonviolent drug offenses, who under current guidelines would be serving less time.
“Today, I am pardoning three people who have demonstrated their commitment to rehabilitation and are striving every day to give back and contribute to their communities,” Biden said in a statement to mark “Second Chance Month.”
For Bolden, 87, who served on President John F. Kennedy’s detail, the pardon was a long time coming.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell made the case for a pardon in a January column headlined “It’s long past time to finally clear first White House Black Secret Service agent’s name,”
Bolden, Mitchell noted, “chronicled his journey from a ‘first’ to a ‘disgraced’ Secret Service agent in his 2008 memoir ‘The Echo from Dealey Plaza.’”
As Mitchell wrote, “After he complained about agents drinking on the job and showing up unfit for duty and after he threatened to reveal the agency’s shortcomings in protecting the president, he was charged with bribery in a case involving a counterfeiting defendant. After being tried twice, he was convicted in 1966 and was sentenced to six years in federal prison. He served three years and nine months behind bars.”
In an April 2021 column, Mitchell noted that “an assignment that should have brought Bolden great honor...
(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.suntimes.com ...
Hard to say, but the Federal government is very corrupt.
So nothing has changed in 60 years.
So, Bolden was an unprofessional racist.
Oh yeah, the black race and all sub-Saharan Africans are the most mistreated humans that ever walked the face of the earth. Each and everyone has been used & abused since birth. All by the eevile whte man.
Working drunk is more fun than working sober.
What’s his problem?...
Hmm..wonder why car ter, clin ton or osama didn’t pardon Bolden?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t presidents usually wait until their final term in office is up before issuing pardons?
Probably because the people that set this guy up were now in control of the Secret Service ?................
And has been for a very long time
They had too many other important drug dealers to let go
“For Bolden, 87”
I have no real problem with it especially considering his age.
LOL!!
But one thing's clear...apart from those involved in Laptopgate and Russiagate every damn crook The Big Guy will pardon will be a member of at least one protected class.
He was the 2nd, but leave it to this dubious administration to continue known erroneous propaganda:
In October 1960, Bolden joined the US Secret Service, becoming their second black agent (after Charles L. Gittens, who was hired in 1956). Bolden was assigned to investigate counterfeiting cases.
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/bolden-abraham-1935/
My apologies, I missed the “on White House Detail” specifics.
Gee it’s so hard to picture Democrats framing a Black man for complaining about unprofessional federal agents NOT!
I believe this man.
As Mitchell wrote, “After he complained about agents drinking on the job and showing up unfit for duty and after he threatened to reveal the agency’s shortcomings in protecting the president, he was charged with bribery in a case involving a counterfeiting defendant. After being tried twice, he was convicted in 1966 and was sentenced to six years in federal prison. He served three years and nine months behind bars.”
Hard to know the truth behind this without a lot of research, including review of the trials, evidence, and timing. Mitchell’s presentation does not preclude guilt all around. It seems entirely plausible that:
A) 1960’s era SS agents were racist and bent;
B) a Chicagoan in the SS, black or otherwise, might have taken a bribe or two during his career (before moving to the WH detail?);
C) such an agent would point the finger at others when caught;
D) other corrupt actors in the government would railroad a troublesome co-worker, honest or otherwise, to get them out of the way.
We can rest assured that this guy’s crimes, if any, are penny-ante compared to Joe Biden’s. With an election looming, pardoning a black octogenarian for something relatively minor that happened 50 years ago is a free shot.
Yep. Targeted and framed by DEMOCRATS!
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