Pete Buttigieg Rocks Trump By Promising No Pardon If He Is Indicted

[babylonsister]

Music to my ears!

https://www.politicususa.com/2019/06/16/pete-buttigieg-trump-pardon.html

Posted on Sun, Jun 16th, 2019 by Jason Easley
Pete Buttigieg Rocks Trump By Promising No Pardon If He Is Indicted
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg said that he would not pardon Trump or any other ex-president if they were indicted.


Transcript via CBS’s Face The Nation:

MARGARET BRENNAN: So there are a number of investigations going on in- different state levels. If you do get to that position of the presidency and you look at a Buttigieg Justice Department potentially prosecuting the president- former president, would you ever consider a pardon?

BUTTIGIEG: I don’t think that it’s appropriate for pardon power to be used to cover for malfeasance or corruption in office. You know, right now–

MARGARET BRENNAN: So Ford’s pardoning of Nixon–

BUTTIGIEG: You know, I don’t–

MARGARET BRENNAN: –inappropriate?

BUTTIGIEG: –know what I would have done in the 70s and- and- and that historical counterfactual other than that I’m bothered by the possibility that public corruption went unpunished and the idea that that could happen in the future is equally problematic. That’s, I think, not at all what the pardon power was- was for when it was first contemplated. And again, I think the less presidential slash political interference there is with any process in the Department of Justice, the better.

Link to tweet

Trump isn’t going to get a Nixon pardon

The best chance for Trump to avoid a federal indictment by getting a pardon would be to resign. Democrats aren’t going to pardon Trump if he loses the election for the exact reason that Buttigieg stated. Public corruption can’t go unpunished. It has been argued with hindsight that Ford’s presidency was finished as soon as he pardoned Nixon. Corruption can’t be swept under the rug so that the nation can “move on.” If Democrats take back the White House, Trump is going to be indicted at the federal or state level. Presidential pardons don’t apply to state charges, but Trump must be punished so that a presidency like his never happens again.

Trump best chance of avoiding a potential prison sentence is winning reelection because a pardon isn’t going to happen.

[LuvNewcastle]

1. If he loses the election, he'll resign before the new President is sworn in

and Pence will pardon him.

[babylonsister]

2. I wonder if that pardon

would apply to the SDNY? Maybe not...

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/06/06/how-trump-could-be-prosecuted-after-the-white-house-227050

How Trump Could Be Prosecuted After the White House
Impeachment is a big question mark, but an outline of the case against an ex-President Trump is already taking shape.
By RENATO MARIOTTI
June 06, 2019

snip//

State-level charges have an extra level of jeopardy because Trump cannot be pardoned for them by a president. It’s entirely possible for a recently defeated Trump to step aside and allow another president—potentially Vice President Mike Pence—to pardon him before a federal case could even be brought. (That would not be unprecedented. Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon about a month after he became president.)

There is also the danger that Trump could engage in additional obstructive conduct before the next election, particularly if the House of Representatives initiates an impeachment inquiry. This might give Trump an incentive to pressure or influence potential witnesses against him, like McGahn. Most clients in legal jeopardy know not to make matters worse for themselves, but Trump has demonstrated that he does not always follow the advice of his attorneys.

So, for Trump, much more is riding on the next election than remaining in office. The five-year federal statute of limitations applies to obstruction of justice, and obstructing a federal investigation is not a state crime, which means that a reelected President Trump could not be prosecuted for his obstruction in 2017 until he left office in January 2025, which is over two years after the statute of limitations would run. Some have argued that the statute of limitations would be tolled (essentially, put on hold) while Trump was in office, but no court has reached that conclusion and it’s unclear one ever will. For that reason, winning the election might be Trump’s best path to avoid being charged with a felony.

The 2020 stakes could not be higher for him.

[LuvNewcastle]

3. I hope the state can still bring charges, but I don't have a lot of faith

that it will come to much. It's doubtful that he'll ever spend a day behind bars. He'll have lawyers tying things up in court for years, I expect. A lot of people think he's mentally ill and I could see him claiming to have dementia and using it as an excuse to get out of trouble. It would be satisfying to see him arrested and dressed in an orange jumpsuit, but I think we're going to have to settle for merely getting him out of office. Hope I'm wrong.

[madville]

6. SDNY is a federal branch

So yes, a pardon would kill any cases they built against Trump or his group.

I also think he will resign and let Pence be President for a couple of weeks in order to get a pardon before leaving.

Maybe the state can find something to charge him with though.

[Grasswire2]

4. the problem here is that he LIVES FOR REVENGE and will not go away if not.......

....rendered penniless and powerless -- the whole clan of them.

He must be stopped.

If not, he could rise up deplorables to civil war, or any other horrific actions.

Penniless, powerless, restricted from public life or doing business, passports pulled, all asset seized............etc.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. I think he'll try to get deplorables to revolt, but I don't think

that many of them will have the balls to really do anything when it comes down to the wire, especially if most of his crimes are brought to light.

I know some of those people who listen to Alex Jones and believe everything he says. They're brainwashed, sure, but most of them are fucking lazy. The reason they believe Alex Jones is because they're too dumb and/or lazy to do a little bit of googling on their phones and find out the truth on any given topic. So they believe the Earth is flat and bitch about how the government lies to them all the time. But they aren't really going to do much if it's going to cost them any money (missing work) or risking getting thrown in jail. That's where Trump has really miscalculated. His little followers are a bunch of lazy, pampered, dopes, and they aren't going to stick their necks out for him if it means making any kind of a real sacrifice.

[Turin_C3PO]

7. His deplorables won't do shit.

Have you seen them? They’re not going to risk death for Trump.