Dr. Trump’s Last Prescription: Pardon Florida Healthcare Fraudsters

On January 20th, before fleeing to Palm Beach (where his neighbors don’t want him) lame duck grifter Donald Trump granted clemency to fellow Floridians convicted of engaging in the Sunshine State’s flourishing industry, Medicare and Medicaid fraud:

Philip Esformes, a nursing home system operator convicted of a $1.3 Billion Medicare fraud, largest in the the nation’s history, won comutation of his 20-year prison sentence.

South Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen was serving a 17-year sentence for a $73 million Medicare fraud conviction, was pardoned by Mr. Trump, a Florida neighbor.

Also pardoned: Todd Farha, Thaddeus Bereday, William Kale, Paul Behrens, and Peter Clay, former executives of Florida’s WellCare Health Plans, were convicted of defrauding the state’s Medicaid program of over $35 million.

This should make him welcome in his new retirement home, a state represented by a Republican senator once involved in a $1.7 billion Medicare fraud.

More:

“The doctors Trump pardoned for defrauding the government,” Anjalee Khemlani, Yahoo Finance

________________

Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-wzz

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Trump’s Parting Pardons

As lame duck Donald Trump prepares to flee Washington, he’s prepared a spreadsheet of around 100 co-conspirators to pardon. If he could legally pardon himself, he would. Of course, when did laws ever stop him?

More:

“Trump prepares to offer clemency to more than 100 people in his final hours in office,” Carol D. Leonnig, Josh Dawsey and Rosalind S. Helderman, Washington Post

“Trump to issue more than 100 pardons before Biden sworn in – reports,” Martin Pengelly and Luke Harding, The Guardian

“Trump probably can’t pardon himself. He may still try,” Zachary B. Wolf, CNN

“Capitol Rioter Tries To Nab Herself A Pardon As Trump Plans To Announce Final Bunch,” Kate Riga, TalkingPointsMemo

“Joe Exotic Hires Pick-Up Limo in Expectation of Trump Pardon,” Jamie Ross, Daily Beast

Update:

“‘Tiger King’ Star Joe Exotic Complains He Was ‘Too Innocent and Too Gay’ for Trump to Pardon Him,” Blake Montgomery, Daily Beast

Related:

“Prospect of Pardons in Final Days Fuels Market to Buy Access to Trump,” Michael S. Schmidt and Kenneth P. Vogel, New York Times

“White House Warns People Buying Pardons That Counterfeit Pardons Are Being Sold Online,” Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker

_____________

Shortlink: https://wp.me/p6sb6-wyz

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Can Trump Pardon Himself?

Can President Trump pardon himself? a Vox video by Danush Parvaneh.

_____________

Shortlink: https://wp.me/p6sb6-rQ6

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Will Donald Trump Try To Pardon Himself?

Confused senior citizen and Donald Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani had lots of contradictory things to say about his client last Sunday. He asserted that Mr. Trump couldn’t be indicted even if he shot James Comey, then talked about presidential pardon powers.

President Trump probably has the power to pardon himself, said Mr. Giuliani, but of course he would never do such an “unthinkable” thing. On the other hand, telling Donald Trump not to do something is best way of convincing him to do it. For now, Mr. Trump claims he has the “absolute right” to pardon himself, but doesn’t have to, because he has “done nothing wrong.”

So can a president pardon himself? Legal opinions differ, but  Laurence H. Tribe, Richard Painter and Norman Eisen make a good case against it, based in part on the DoJ’s Office of Legal Counsel 1974 opinion during Nixon’s Watergate crisis, citing “the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case,” a view taken by James Madison in the Federalist Papers, No. 10.

Trump’s Celebrity Pardons

U.S. President and reality show host Donald Trump ramped up the “wow!” factor on the latest episode of Celebrity White House yesterday with a presidential pardon for confessed federal felon Dinesh D’Souza, the conservative troll, Twitter abuser, conspiracy theorist, adulterer, and Christian college official who admitted to making illegal campaign contributions. Ted Cruz is “positively gleeful.”

Mr. Trump, who prefers to govern by fiat, discovered his federal pardon power when he sprang racist Joe Arpaio from the pokey, pardoned perjurer Scooter Libby, and pardoned Sly Stallone’s pal Jack Johnson, “a person that, when people got to know him, they really liked him,” as the president put it. The chief executive is also eyeing relief for federal felons and former Celebrity Apprentice stars Martha Stewart and Rod Blagojevich.

Donald Trump isn’t all that interested in celebrity justice; he’s sending a message to his indicted collaborators Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, and Paul Manafort that he can bust them out of prison with the stroke of a pen if they keep mum.

A Pardon for Jack Johnson

Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Johnson, convicted in a unjust federal trial in 1913, was posthumously pardoned by President Donald Trump on Thursday. Mr. Johnson, the first African American boxing champion, was a victim of racism, and there has been a long campaign to right this historical wrong, complicated by Johnson’s history of adultery and domestic violence.

But remedying racial injustice doesn’t seem to be why Mr. Trump pardoned Jack Johnson. He did it because celebrity pal Sylvester Stallone asked him to, and because Mr. Johnson was “a truly legendary boxing champion, legendary athlete, and a person that, when people got to know him, they really liked him,” said the president. A flamboyant, womanizing, larger-than-life celebrity? Donald Trump can certainly relate to that.

And of course if Donald Trump can pardon a dead man, surely there’s hope for Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn ….

More:

“Trump’s pardon of Jack Johnson is not insignificant. But caring about racial injustice in 2018 would be more meaningful.” Eugene Scott, Washington Post

 

Video: Celebrity Jack Johnson conducts an unidentified jazz band, 1929. Alternate takes here.

______________

Short Link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-ryA

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

One Liar Pardons Another

President Donald Trump, who makes six nonfactual statements a day, has pardoned convicted perjurer I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby Jr.  “I don’t know Mr. Libby,” said Mr. Trump, “but for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly.” Evidently, golf clubhouse chatter is now a major force in our legal system.

The real message in this presidential act: Lie to Mueller for me and get out of jail free.

Keep track of Trump falsehoods here.

More:

“Trump grants pardon to former Bush official; some say he is using the law as a political tool,” Philip Rucker, Josh Dawsey and Matt Zapotosky, Washington Post

“Trump Pardoned Libby to Protect Himself From Mueller,” Marcy Wheeler, New York Times

Related:

“Donald Trump says it’s okay for him to lie since ‘people agree with me.’” Graham Vyse, The New Republic

“Trump is perfecting the art of the Big Lie,” Max Boot, Washington Post

____________

Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-ruo

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Trump Pardons Disgraced Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio

Former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, recently convicted on federal contempt charges for violating a court order forbidding his racial profiling tactics, has been pardoned by President Trump.

In 2016 the 83-year-old Sheriff, an early and ardent Trump supporter, failed to win re-election after 23 years in office, despite having armed deputies assigned to polling places in an effort to intimidate Mexican-American voters. While elderly Arpaio failed at the polls, his voter suppression effort helped deliver more votes for Donald Trump in Maricopa County than any other county in America. One more reason for Mr. Trump’s bromance with the law-breaking ex-lawman.

President Trump was so eager to get “Sheriff Joe” off the hook, he asked Jeff Sessions to drop the case before Arpaio was convicted.

More:

“Trump pardons Joe Arpaio, former sheriff convicted in racial profiling case,” Julia Carrie Wong, The Guardian

“Trump pardons `Sheriff Joe’ for defying court orders to halt racial profiling,” Todd J. Gilman, Dallas News

Obama Pardons National Tofurky®

President Barack Obama has pardoned the 2012 National Thanksgiving Tofurky® in a ceremony in the Vegetable Garden on the South Lawn of the White House.

The mock-turkey vegetable roast will not be consumed by the First Family but will frolic with leftover arugula and endive from the presidential holiday meal in the Official White House Compost Heap.