Thursday/ a high-stakes game of pardon poker

Not a day goes by, with no scandal or bad news, from the Trump administration. Today, President ‘Bring-Back-Law-and-Order’ Trump pardoned Dinesh D’Souza, a right-wing Twitter troll, that pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions in 2014. It’s pardon No 6. Rumored to be next, are Martha Stewart, and a commutation of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s jail sentence he is serving.  Why them? Former FBI director James Comey (fired by Trump) led Stewart’s prosecution, and Comey’s friend Patrick Fitzgerald, led Blagojevich’s.

Observation from David Roberts (blogger for news site Vox.com). Using the pardoning power excessively, or to obstruct justice, is not going to fly, though.

So Trump is using the presidential pardon power for revenge. Or even to signal to the criminals associated with him (think Micheal Flynn, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort) that he will pardon them as well, in the event the Russia investigation finds them guilty. (Flynn has already pleaded guilty, as a matter of fact).

Some analysts note though, that it is not out of the question that these pardons – and what they signal – could become part of the obstruction of justice evidence, collected by the Russia investigation.

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