Politics - News Analysis

Some of Trump’s Pardons Are Written So Poorly that DOJ May Still Be Able to Get Convictions

Believe it or not, writing the specific wording for a pardon can be pretty difficult, especially when prosecutors and judges are upset that the president issued the pardon and believe justice requires them to find a way to get around it. It is no different than writing contracts with which you want to bind the other party. If that party wants out of your contract, you best hope you wrote it well. Writing, “I will pay Nicole back on Tuesday for a hamburger today” seems simple enough until someone upsets Nicole by handing her $6.50 worth of used batteries on Tuesday claiming no one said anything about “how” it was to be paid.

You get the idea.

We are certain that the lawyers drafting the pardons for Trump’s White House were semi-competent, perhaps even good lawyers. The problem is that one can be a very good lawyer in one area of law and yet fail when doing something else because it’s a bit of a specialty. It turns out, writing up pardons is a specialty. The DOJ has a section that normally deals with all pardons but that section sat quiet while Trump ran all pardons through the White House.

And now it might bite Trump and his pardon pals in the ass. A real criminal law specialist below lays it out better than used batteries. Robert Mueller picked Andrew Weissman to be one of the top prosecutors, he’s likely far better at this criminal law thing than many in the White House. From Just Security:

The pardon for Paul Manafort (on Dec. 23, 2020), is illustrative. By its own terms, the pardon covers only the crimes “for his conviction” on specific charges and not any other crimes (charged or uncharged). Specifically, the pardon is solely for the crimes of conviction — eight in the Eastern District of Virginia and two in the District of Columbia. That leaves numerous crimes as to which Manafort can still be prosecuted, as in Virginia there were 10 hung counts. In Washington, the situation is even more wide open. In that district, Manafort pleaded to a superseding information containing two conspiracy charges, while the entire underlying indictment — containing numerous crimes from money laundering, to witness tampering, to violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act — now remains open to prosecution as there was no conviction for those charges.

What’s more, the trial on such charges would be unusually simple. First, as part of his plea agreement, Manafort admitted under oath the criminal conduct in Virginia as to which the jury hung (although he did not plead to those counts and thus they are not subject to the pardon). In addition, he admitted in writing the underlying criminal conduct in Washington. Thus, proving the case could largely consist of introducing Manafort’s sworn admission to the charges.

Oh, shit.

So not only did they leave a big gaping gap in their pardon but they gap entails crimes to which Manafort already basically admitted, on the record? In court? Yeah, that’s a bit of a problem. No one tell Mike!

The Manafort pardon is just one example. Trump issued over one-hundred pardons in his last days. Surely to god some of them are just as awful as the Manafort effort. Each of those pardons likely upset certain prosecutors and judges who spent a lot of time securing convictions that reflect justice. Now those same parties will be looking for ways around them.

Thankfully, it would seem that Trump’s own incompetence, along with his staffs’ inabilities, have left the door open.

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Peace, y’all
Jason
[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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