First, he pardoned some more murderous war criminals, Border Patrol criminals, corrupted political cronies and also a few people who deserved it:
In an audacious pre-Christmas round of pardons, President Trump granted clemency on Tuesday to two people convicted in the special counsel’s Russia inquiry, four Blackwater guards convicted in connection with the killing of Iraqi civilians and three corrupt former Republican members of Congress.
It was a remarkable assertion of pardon power by a president who has disputed his loss in the election and might be only the start of more to come in the final weeks before he leaves office on Jan. 20.
Mr. Trump nullified more of the legal consequences of an investigation into his 2016 campaign that he long labeled a hoax. He granted clemency to contractors whose actions in Iraq set off an international uproar and helped turn public opinion further against the war there. And he pardoned three members of his party who had become high-profile examples of public corruption.
Among those pardoned was George Papadopoulos, who was a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign and who pleaded guilty in 2017 to making false statements to federal officials as part of the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.
Also pardoned was Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who pleaded guilty to the same charge in 2018 in connection to the special counsel’s inquiry. Both men served short prison sentences.
The Mueller-related pardons are a signal of more to come for people caught up in the investigation, according to people close to the president.
Mr. Trump recently pardoned his former national security adviser, Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, who pleaded guilty twice to charges including lying to the F.B.I. in connection with the inquiry into Russian involvement in the election. The president in July commuted the sentence of Roger J. Stone Jr., his longtime adviser who was convicted on a series of charges related to the investigation. Both men have maintained their innocence.
Mr. Trump’s pardon list also included four former U.S. service members who were convicted on charges related to the killing of Iraqi civilians while working as contractors in 2007.
One of them, Nicholas Slatten, had been sentenced to life in prison after the Justice Department had gone to great lengths to prosecute him. Mr. Slatten had been a contractor for the private company Blackwater and was sentenced for his role in the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square in Baghdad — a massacre that left one of the most lasting stains of the war on the United States. Among those dead were 10 men, two women and two boys, who were 8 and 11.
The three former members of Congress pardoned by Mr. Trump were Duncan D. Hunter of California, Chris Collins of New York and Steve Stockman of Texas.
Mr. Hunter was set to begin serving an 11-month sentence next month. He pleaded guilty in 2019 to one charge of misusing campaign funds.
Mr. Collins, an early endorser of Mr. Trump, is serving a 26-month sentence after pleading guilty in 2019 to charges of making false statements to the F.B.I. and to conspiring to commit securities fraud.
Mr. Stockman was convicted in 2018 on charges of fraud and money laundering and was serving a 10-year sentence.
The president also granted full pardons to two former Border Patrol agents whose sentences for their roles in the shooting of an alleged drug trafficker had previously been commuted by President George W. Bush.
Aaaand, this too. Of course:
In an unexpected video posted to Twitter Tuesday night, President Donald Trump poured cold water on a sweeping COVID-19 relief package he was expected to sign, calling it a “disgrace” and urging congressional leaders to make several changes to the bill including increasing direct payments for Americans.
“It’s called the COVID relief bill, but it has almost nothing to do with COVID,” he said in a video posted just moments after he issued pardons for several allies. “I’m asking Congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000 or $4,000 for a couple.”
The president stopped short of saying he would veto the bipartisan legislation but was expected to sign the measure alongside a $1.4 trillion spending bill to fund the government. Trump called on Congress to remove “wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation,” appearing to conflate the relief bill with the government spending bill.
In implying a threat to veto the bill, Trump also referenced his efforts to somehow stay in office.
He said Congress needs to improve the bill, “or else the next administration will have to deliver a COVID relief package – and maybe that administration will be me.”
He’s been sitting around watching TV and plotting revenge and coups so this is the first he’s heard about this bill. He’s only the president.
They have the votes to override the veto I think. But you never know what those Republicans are going to do. They might just fall in line behind Dear Leader. And whatever McConnell wants, Trump may not care about Loeffler and Perdue or anything other than his own wounded ego.
He says he wants a $2,000 stimulus. Great. Maybe he could take that up with Mitch.
And maybe he’s just acting out like the overgrown baby he is. But damn … has there ever been a bigger sore loser in world history>
It’s Happy Hollandaise time. If you’re of a mind to drop something in the old Hullabaloo Christmas stocking, you can do so below.
cheers,
digby