Not all messages are displayed:
show all messages (3239 of them)
lol @ this from CNN
President Trump received an unsettling warning on his final Saturday night in the White House.
Huddled for a lengthy meeting with his legal advisers, Trump was warned the pardons he once hoped to bestow upon his family and even himself would place him in a legally perilous position, convey the appearance of guilt and potentially make him more vulnerable to reprisals.
So, too, was Trump warned that pardons for Republican lawmakers who had sought them for their role in the Capitol insurrection would anger the very Senate Republicans who will determine his fate in an upcoming impeachment trial.
White House counsel Pat Cipollone and another attorney who represented Trump in his first impeachment trial, Eric Herschmann, offered the grave warnings as Trump, his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner listened. Other lawyers joined by telephone. They all told Trump he should not pardon himself, his family or any GOP lawmakers in a prospective manner unless he was prepared to list specific crimes.
Cipollone and former Attorney General William Barr both warned Trump earlier this month they did not believe he should pardon himself, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN last week. Barr conveyed this position to Trump before resigning last month, sources say.
Trump continued to bring the matter up in the ensuing days, even after officials believed the issue was resolved. But the sobering meeting on Saturday evening at the White House seemed the idea to rest.
While Trump often discards advice he doesn't agree with â particularly coming from Cipollone, with whom he has a fractured relationship â the message Saturday resonated. The conversation spooked Trump in a way few others have, a person familiar with his reaction told CNN.
Now, Trump will leave office muted and disheartened at being unable to wield the power he has cherished most while president. Boxed in by his own actions that helped spark the riots at the Capitol, Trump finds himself constrained in a way he mostly avoided for his entire tenure.
His final batch of pardons, due later today, is expected to contain few of the controversial or outlandish criminals that have characterized his earlier use of his clemency powers.
Trump could still change his mind, and retains his sweeping clemency powers until noon on Wednesday. Trump continues to bring up pardons that aides one thought were off the table, including for former strategy Steve Bannon, leading to general uncertainty about whether Trump will continue adhering to his lawyers' advice.
But White House officials and others familiar with the matter describe a muted President, concerned about his pending impeachment trial and swirling legal problems, who was talked out of his long-discussed notions following the Capitol insurrection.
Several Republican lawmakers who are alleged to have been involved in the rally that preceded the deadly riot on the US Capitol have sought clemency from Trump before he leaves office, but after meeting with his legal advisers for several hours on Saturday, Trump decided he would not grant them, according to two people familiar with his plans.
The fear of legal exposure is not limited to Republicans who promoted or spoke at the rally, including Reps. Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks and Paul Gosar. Those who participated, organized and fundraised for it are also concerned, sources told CNN, including his eldest son Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, who both spoke at the rally.
Top figures associated with the groups that helped organize it â including Women for America First and Turning Point Action, the political action committee arm of Turning Point USA â have also voiced private concern about legal repercussions, a person familiar tells CNN.
Several of Trump's closest advisers have also urged him not to grant clemency to anyone who breached the US Capitol, despite Trump's initial stance that those involved had done nothing wrong.
As CNN has previously reported, one of the top organizers of the movement that aimed to overturn the election results claimed he worked closely with Republican congressmen. Ali Alexander, a leader of the "Stop the Steal" group, said in several livestream videos he planned the rally with Gosar and two other congressional Republicans, Mo Brooks of Alabama and Andy Biggs of Arizona.
― Looking for Cape Penis house (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 19 January 2021 20:02 (three years ago) link