Last Call For Pardon The Corruption

Donald Trump expertly trolling America today with a series of pardons and commutations for some of the country's most infamous white collar criminals and political crooks, and of course they just happen to be white guys.

President Donald Trump announced a host of pardons and commutations on Tuesday, ranging from Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor jailed on corruption charges, to Bernie Kerik, the former New York police commissioner.

"Yes, we have commuted the sentence of Rod Blagojevich. He served eight years in jail, a long time," Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One en route to Los Angeles.

The commutation was one of a flurry of legal actions Trump took Tuesday, including pardons for Kerik, financier Michael Milken and former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo, Jr. And they came days before the scheduled sentencing of Roger Stone in federal court in D.C., amid widespread speculation about whether the president will pardon his former longtime aide.

Stone was at the center of last week's drama inside the Justice Department, with four career prosecutors quitting his case after Attorney General William Barr overruled their sentencing recommendation.

Stone's looming fate has drawn Trump's condemnation in recent weeks, with the president calling it a "miscarriage of justice!" on Twitter and excoriating the prosecutors and judge for their handling of the case. On Tuesday, he appeared to echo a Fox News contributor’s call for a new trial.

Trump's clemency moves furthered a pattern in which those seeking pardons have aggressively lobbied the president's allies and associates, jumping ahead of the formal process by which the White House usually reviews pardon requests. And Tuesday's announcement by the White House offered a few tantalizing hints as to who might be the next on the president's list.

Now Trump also pardoned or commuted the sentences of some less infamous people who have been pressing for one in the media through criminal justice reform:

Ariel Friedler hacked into his competitors’ computers. Paul Pogue filed false income tax statements. David Safavian is a Republican lawyer who was convicted of perjury in connection with the Abramoff corruption scandal. Angela Stanton “spent time in Georgia prisons for things like felony embezzlement, theft and fraud” but since her release in 2005 has become a best-selling author and the creator of Reclaim It Albany.

Tynice Nicole Hall was convicted of conspiracy and drug offenses involving powder and crack cocaine because her boyfriend sold drugs out of her house. Crystal Munoz was convicted of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 1000 kilograms of marijuana. Judith Negron received a 35-year sentence as part of a Medicare fraud racket.

Hey, but he got all these names from FOX News State TV anyway.

Unsurprisingly, a key influence that led to Trump’s decision, particularly as it related to Blagojevich, was Fox News. The same could partly be said of the decision on Kerik, a frequent Fox News guest whose pardon was backed by several of the network’s stars; Milken, whose pardon was supported by Fox Business Network host and Trump loyalist Maria Bartiromo; and Angela Stanton, an occasional pro-Trump TV pundit whose pardon was pushed by frequent Fox News guest and evangelical leader Alveda King.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Trump made the Fox News connection abundantly clear, telling reporters that he decided to commute the rest of Blagojevich’s sentence because he’d seen the ex-governor’s wife Patti Blagojevich pleading her husband’s case on Fox.

“I watched his wife on television,” Trump declared, adding that he didn’t know the ex-governor “very well” despite Blagojevich’s appearances on The Celebrity Apprentice years ago.

In mid-2018, the president repeatedly asked close advisers to explore a Blagojevich pardon and, while doing so, emphatically referenced clips he’d seen on Fox, including a segment on informal Trump adviser Jeanine Pirro’s weekend show, according to two sources who independently discussed the matter with the president at the time.

According to liberal media-watchdog Media Matters for America, Patti Blagojevich took to Fox programming in April 2018 to push for her husband’s sentence to be reduced, making at least seven appearances on some of Trump’s favorite primetime shows such as Tucker Carlson Tonight and The Ingraham Angle.

The hosts, meanwhile, didn’t even bother with subtlety during the interviews. For instance, Tucker Carlson asked Mrs. Blagojevich what she would say “if you could speak to the president.”

Of course, money talks too.

For those who didn’t receive the Fox News treatment, it appears that in at least one case, cold hard cash did the talking. Paul Pogue, a construction company owner who pleaded guilty to underpaying his taxes by $473,000 and received three years probation, was issued a full pardon and clemency by the president.

According to FEC filings, Pogue’s family has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in direct contributions and in-kind air travel to the Trump Victory Committee. Beginning in August 2019, Ben Pogue—CEO of Pogue Construction and son of Paul Pogue—and his wife Ashleigh made over $200,000 in contributions to the campaign.
In August alone, Ben Pogue donated $85,000 to Trump Victory while Ashleigh Pogue contributed $50,000 that month. The following month, Ben Pogue made an in-kind air travel contribution of $75,404.40. The couple also made several large donations to the Republican National Committee and each donated $5,600 to Donald Trump for President Inc.

On the day of their first donation to the Trump campaign, Ashleigh posted an Instagram photo of her and her husband posing with Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, at the Hamptons.

But the real message is a clear as a Nordic spring lake: pardons for those who Mueller put behind bars are now coming, and for everyone else, justice is for sale if the price is right.

Bla-Gone-Jevich

Former Dem Gov. of Illinois and national embarrassment Rod Blagojevich got the hammer dropped on him today in his bribery and extortion retrial: Guilty on 17 of 20 counts.

The jury acquitted Blagojevich on one count of bribery and was unable to reach verdicts on two counts of attempted extortion.

The charges against Blagojevich included trying to peddle the U.S. Senate seat held by Barack Obama before he resigned to become president. Blagojevich has denied any intention of bribery.

Last August, after a two-month trial and 14 days of deliberation, jurors deadlocked on 23 of the 24 charges Blagojevich had faced. They found him guilty on one count of lying to FBI investigators, a conviction that could carry a prison sentence of five years.

The accusation that Blagojevich tried to profit as he considered whom to appoint to succeed Obama, among other allegations, prompted his impeachment by Illinois' House of Representatives and his removal from office by the state Senate in 2009.

Ten of the counts against him in the current trial are wire fraud. The other 10 involve extortion and bribery. Most of the counts have a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Blago will certainly appeal, but at this point it's up to a judge to see how long he spends in jail.  He's pushing 55 as it is, so he could conceivably get a Madoff special and hundreds of years in jail, or something much shorter.  Dunno.

Either way, I am neither surprised or saddened by this.

Last Call

Democratic Sen. Roland Burris is not running in 2010, which is actually pretty good news for his fellow Democrats, as explaining how his only qualification for the office was "I was appointed by Rod Blagojevich" and that was basically going to hand over Barack Obama's old seat in Illinois to the Republicans.

The problem is replacing Burris. Illinois AG Lisa Madigan was favored, but she has flatly denied the seat and is running for AG again. Without Madigan, the seat is suddenly a lot more vlnerable than it was say, last week.

We'll see.

The Other Shoe Drops On Blago's Face

So, he lost his job as Governor of Illinois because of all the corrupt, icky things he did. The funny thing is the case against Blago for facing criminal charges is still out there, and like an anvil in a Road Runner cartoon, the corruption case against him is about to crush him flat.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said this morning it plans to make an announcement about a “significant criminal matter’’ later today, which sources said is the indictment of ex-governor Rod Blagojevich. The indictment will likely be handed down within the next several hours.

Blagojevich and his then chief of staff John Harris were arrested Dec. 9 on corruption charges. Blagojevich was accused in a criminal complaint of trying to sell President Obama’s open Senate seat. He was also accused of trying to shakedown firms seeking state business for campaign cash before a Jan. 1 law went into effect banning the practice. Charges also included an alleged plot to have Chicago Tribune editorial board members fired in exchange for helping Tribune Co. structure a state-backed deal to sell Wrigley Field.

This should be fun. Wonder how many people he'll take down with him, Chicago style.

[UPDATE] Sixteen additional felony charges leveled against Blago.

Bla-gone-jevich

Blago is Bla-gone, a unanimous vote in the Illinois Senate to impeach.

Bye, Rod.

Helpful Governor Is Helpful

Oh look, Blago's defending himself at his impeachment trial today.

He said there's been a "rush to judgment and an evisceration of presumption of innocence."

The governor said the prosecution has not proven the allegations, which are based on a criminal complaint released by federal authorities in December, when he was arrested on federal corruption charges.

"How can you throw a governor out of office on a criminal complaint, and you haven't been able to show or prove any criminal activity?" he asked.

Well, there is the whole "conduct unbecoming the Governor" thing. If they decide to impeach you on that, your appearance on The View this week pretty much cements that right there.

It's Official

Governor Blagojevich has been impeached by the Illinois House.

The Democratic-controlled House voted 114 to one to impeach the two-term Democrat, clearing the way for a trial in the state Senate, where conviction by two-thirds of its members would result in his removal from office.

Rep. Barbara Currie, a Chicago Democrat who headed the inquiry committee that recommended impeachment, told the House Blagojevich had betrayed the public trust, "a public servant who has chosen not to serve the public ... who has betrayed his oath of office ... who is not fit to govern."

And the band played on...

Question: how does the evidence at the State Senate trial affect his Federal trial? I'll have to look into that. I do know the standards of evidence are vastly different.

The Million Dollar Question

The question isn't "What the hell is Blagojevich thinking?" but, as John Cole brilliantly points out:

Not to be too much of a smart-ass, but since when has anyone ever paid a political price for going against Harry Reid? Has it ever happened? On the other hand, Jane may be right. In my limited time as a Democrat it sure does seem like the only time Democrats take a stand is when they are attacking… another Democrat. And, if you ask Joe Lieberman, they don’t even do it very well then.

As to Blagojevich, it really isn’t that ballsy of a move at all. The only thing he has going for him right now is the legitimate power he commands as governor. Democrats hate him. Republicans hate him. His approval ratings are lower than Bush. Patrick Fitzgerald has him by the short hairs on tape. All he can do is keep insisting he is innocent and act as if nothing has happened. He really has no other options.

And there you go. Everything you need to know about Rod Blagojevich is summed up by the fact Harry Reid is a spineless twit. The one thing the GOP does better than the Democrats is enforce party order. Once again, the Dems look like morons because the party leadership gets called on their bluff and then does exactly nothing about it. The GOP has been doing this to the Dems for years, and apparently Blagojevich was actually paying attention.

Go figure. Just seat Roland Burris already and be done with it.

The Right Way, The Wrong Way, And The Blago Way

The Blago way in this case naming a successor to Obama's Senate seat and daring the world to do something about it.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected Tuesday to name former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate, CNN affiliates the Chicago Tribune and WLS-TV reported, citing sources familiar with the decision.

Burris' appointment would fill President-elect Barack Obama's former Senate seat. Blagojevich is to announce his choice at a news conference at 3 p.m. ET.

Burris, 71, is African-American. According to the newspaper, he expressed interest in the Senate seat shortly after the November 4 election.

The news comes as Democratic leaders in the Senate warned that they would reject any Senate pick made by Blagojevich, who faces criminal charges.

So, with Blagojevich calling the Dems bluff, the ball's firmly in Obama's court now. If he approves of Burris, he looks like an ass for backing Blago, plus Burris can never live down the appointment scandal. If Obama rejects Burris he looks like an ass for dumping on one of Obama's own political heroes and it'll be clear that Blago will simply try again, and if he does nothing, he looks like an ass for doing nothing.

Harry Reid basically is saying Blago can go to hell.

The Senate will not seat Roland Burris if Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich attempts to appoint him, a Democratic leadership aide said.

Majority Leader Harry Reid views Burris as "unacceptable," the aide said.

The die, as they say, is cast.

PS: Hey Harry, where was this sudden backbone six months ago on FISA?

[UPDATE] Blago has balls. Real balls.

"Please don't allow the allegations against me to taint this good and honest man," Blagojevich said.

Nice.

I Got Your Resignation Right Here

Blago To Entire Known Universe: Screw you, die in a fire.

In an unwavering statement of innocence, Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Friday he will be vindicated of criminal corruption charges and has no intention of letting what he called a "political lynch mob" force him from his job. "I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong," Blagojevich said, speaking for about three minutes in his first official public comments since his arrest last week on federal corruption charges.

The Democrat is accused, among other things, of plotting to sell or trade President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat.

"I'm not going to quit a job the people hired me to do because of false accusations and a political lynch mob," Blagojevich said.

Nope. Not going away aaaaaaaanytime soon.

Dear America:

"Obama is totally clean, but the Blagojevich thing might mean that maybe he's actually the most corrupt politician in history, and it's his own damn fault for not making me 100% sure he's guilt-free on this. Therefore, until he proves a negative, I reserve the right to treat him as Worse Than Bush."

--Joe Conason, Salon.com

Dear America:

"If the Right shows the same superhuman ability to ignore reality that they employed during the last eight years, we should have no problem impeaching Obama over this Blagojevich thing."

--Dick Polman, Philadelphia Inquirer

Predictions, Part 2

Well gosh, Atrios is just a smart guy. The GOP holding up Obama's cabinet? Nobody saw that coming, etc. blah blah blah. I figured it would be Susan Rice as UN Ambassador, but with Blagogate having opened the door to giving Obama a hard time as a national sport, it seems the initial target is the more obvious of the choices, AG nominee Eric Holder.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called for a delay in Holder's confirmation hearings because of troubling questions stemming from Holder's role in the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.

This led the committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), to fire off an agitated letter accusing his colleague of making unreasonable demands.

Leahy said he was "confounded" at Specter's surprise that the Holder hearings had been scheduled for Jan. 8, two days after the 111th Congress convenes. Specter said Wednesday he didn't think the confirmation hearings could happen until Jan. 26, a week after Obama's inauguration, so Republicans could have ample time to review thousands of pages of documents and the nominee's FBI background check.

"My recollection is that your initial reaction on November 18 was that you were at that time already reviewing his record," Leahy wrote. "Of course, Eric is someone you and I both know well and have known and worked with for years."

Leahy noted that the Holder hearings were scheduled within a comparable time-frame of other Attorney General nominees. While word began to leak that Holder would be the nominee in mid-November, Obama made the official announcement last week, more than a month before the hearing's are scheduled.

Specter's attempt to delay the hearings marks a shift from earlier statements on Holder. Appearing on MSNBC on Nov. 19, Specter voiced concern about the Rich pardons but specifically said he would not obstruct confirmation hearings.

"Would I hold it up? No," He told Andrea Mitchell. "I would be prepared to move ahead very promptly with hearings. Move into the substance of the matter. Ask the important questions. Look for any documents that might be relevant.

"As fast as we can move through, I'm prepared to decide it one way or another," he continued. "I wouldn't hold it up."

It's unclear what changed in the three weeks since that interview aired.

Blagogate, you idiots.

The GOP smells an opening here. Obama's honeymoon is officially over with both the GOP and the press, and that means it's open season on him.

The Village Idiots are now going to do everything they can to sink Obama under the weight of Rod Blagojevich's ego.

Obama And Blago

BooMan rolls out some excellent points on why Blagogate is making Obama look like the Last Great Boy Scout in Chicago politics.

I'm hesitant to defend anybody in the Blagojevich Scandal until more of the facts are known, but BarbinMD has posted exactly what I wanted to say on the matter. It appears that the event that precipitated Blago's downfall was a phone call Barack Obama made to president of the Illinois Senate Emil Jones Jr. in September requesting that Jones Jr. throw his support behind a new ethics bill. The ethics bill quickly passed and is set to go into effect in January. Blagojevich reacted to this by ramping up his corrupt efforts to raise cash before the new law precluded him from doing so. When Fitzgerald got wind of Blago's efforts, he was able to secure a wiretap warrant. The rest is history.

In spite of this, there are a host of articles out there that attempt to tarnish Obama's reputation and good name by tying him to the governor's corruption. But the facts we have right now are exculpatory.

1. It was Obama's successful push for an Ethics Bill that precipitated the governor's downfall.
2. The prosecutor explicitly stated that there is no hint of wrongdoing by the president-elect.
3. Barack Obama denies haven't any direct discussions with the governor.
4. The governor said, on tape, that the Obama Team was "not willing to give me anything except appreciation. Fuck them." He also called Obama a 'motherf*cker'.

Based on the set of facts we have right now, Obama looks admirably unscathed. In fact, it looks like his advocacy of higher ethics standards is what led to Blago's exposure as a rank crook.

In other words, Obama forced Blago's scummy hand and he got sloppy. Fitz in turn got his wiretaps. Blago in turn got busted.

Seems open and shut.

If only it were really that simple.

Zandar's Thought Of The Day

This morning Time Magazine asks bluntly "Can Obama Escape The Taint Of Blagojevich?"

If you're asking that question, not only do you already know the answer to it, but you're perpetuating that answer as well.

And One Last Thing

Blagojevich has no intention of resigning over this.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has no plans to resign after being indicted on a raft of corruption charges, including the alleged "sale" of former Sen. Barack Obama's Senate seat.

Blagojevich's attorney Sheldon Sorosky told reporters outside the courthouse where the governor was arraigned that the governor has no plan to resign.

"He didn't do anything wrong," Sorosky told reporters. "A lot of this is just politics."

Blagojevich should be in the office Wednesday, his attorney added.

This will get a whole lot worse, and quickly.

Blagogate Is Obama's Whitewater

I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees this whole Blago/Rezko baloney as Obama's Whitewater. Digby weighs in:

The minute I heard about Fitzgerald's press conference, I knew this would follow shortly: Questions Arise About the Obama/Blagojevich Relationship. That's Jake Tapper, not making any charges but bringing up all kinds of cross currents in Illinois politics to suggest that there are "questions." And all over TV they are talking about "corrupt Chicago politics," which is being splashed onto Obama.

It's natural that Obama and many of his staff have crossed paths with the players in this scandal. But according to Lynn Sweet of the Tribune, who has followed Obama for some time and is not a sycophant, says the campaign put a mile between itself and Blagojevich, not even allowing him to speak at the Democratic convention. They are not close.

I don't know if this will go anywhere. At this point, I think there's just too much news and too many problems for a phony scandal to have any legs. But, as I wrote almost a year ago, these Chicago shennanigans have elements of a perfect right wing smear by association if they have the energy to launch one and the press decides it's sexy enough.

Count on it. Taking down Obama is a national sport among the Village. Every single one of them wants to be the next Bob Woodward and write their own ticket for the next 35 years. You can absolutely count on story after story trying to tie Obama to Blago and "the Corrupt Chicago Machine."

The same people who ignored Bush scandal after Bush scandal are the same ones who will spend four years trying to gotcha Obama over this.

As I've said time and time again, if you thought the Village hated the Clintons, wait until you see what they do to Obama.

It starts today. The press honeymoon is certainly over. They know they can turn this into 24/7 Blagogate and control Washington once again...and that's exactly what they are going to do.

Blago-Sphere

Blagogate continues to get more and more interesting by the hour. First of all, Obama is looking more and more like the Good Guy here.

Marcy Wheeler catches local Chicago press reporting that Rahm Emanuel may have tipped off federal investigators that Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) was engaging in corrupt acts. Jack Conaty, a Chicago reporter for the local Fox affiliate, said on-air that Rahm Emanuel might have been responsible for causing federal investigators to act quickly to apprehend Blagojevich this morning:

CONATY: We did receive a tip this morning that perhaps all of this came together so quickly because the Governor may have reached out to Rahm Emanuel, the president-elect’s chief of staff, in attempting to leverage filling the Senate seat. And it may have been Rahm Emanuel who tipped the scale and made this move as quickly as it did.

Second of all, Emanuel may have been cooperating with the Feds all along.

Third of all, the person Blago was going to appoint if Obama didn't play ball, the so called "Senate Candidate 5" is looking more and more like Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Capitol Fax's Rich Miller updates the state of the speculation on the identity of "Senate Candidate 5," the public official who -- from the complaint -- appears to be in the most jeopardy, aside from Blagojevich and Harris. "Senate Candidate 5." He thinks its either Emil Jones or Jesse Jackson, Jr., though it's conceivable that others would fit the description.

Though Fitzgerald warned us not to cast aspersions based on Blagojevich's version of other people's words, this is the damning quote: “We were approached ‘pay to play.’ That, you know, he’d raise me 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate Candidate 5) a Senator.”

Here's what we know. Candidate 5 is:

-"publicly reported to be interested in the open Senate seat"

- not who Blagojevich thought Obama wanted

- not someone with whom, by November 10, Blagojevich had a "long, productive discussion"

- someone with fundraising wherewithal who could produce something "tangible up front"

- someone Blago was "getting a lot of pressure" not to appoint

- someone with whom Blago had "a prior bad experience...not keeping his word"

The complaint also says that on November 10, Blagojevich told an advisor to leak to the Sun-Times's Michael Sneed that Blagojevich "is seriously considering Senate Candidate 5 for the open Senate seat" and that the advisor agreed to call the Sun-Times to leak the story, apparently false, that Blagojevich end of the conversation Advisor A agreed to call the Sun Times columnist to leak the story had a “long, productive discussion” with Candidate 5.

One thing I do know is that this is far from over.

It's In The Blag

Illinois Governor Ron Blagojevich has been arrested by the Feds for, among other things, trying to sell Obama's vacated Senate seat to the highest bidder.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on criminal charges on Tuesday, including trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by fellow Democrat President-elect Barack Obama, federal prosecutors said.

Blagojevich was also accused of threatening to withhold substantial state assistance to the Tribune Company in connection with the sale of the Chicago Cubs' baseball home Wrigley Field "to induce the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members sharply critical" of him.

The 51-year-old Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were charged in a 76-page federal indictment with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery. Both were taken into custody at their homes in Chicago.

In Illinois, the governor selects a successor when there is a mid-term Senate vacancy. Obama resigned from the Senate soon after winning the Nov. 4 presidential election.

Blagojevich allegedly was caught on court-authorized wiretaps during the last month.

He was seeking a "substantial" salary for himself at a nonprofit foundation or union affiliated organization, a spot on a corporate board for his wife, promises of campaign cash, as well as a cabinet post or ambassadorship in exchange for his Senate choice, the FBI affidavit added.

The man prosecuting Blagojevich? None other than Chicago crimefighter US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (yes, THAT Patrick Fitzgerald).

Fitzgerald said the case required "unusual measures" because of actions Blagojevich was expected to take soon, including filling the vacant Senate seat. "There were a lot of things going on that were imminent," he said.

"We were in the middle of a corruption crime scene and we wanted to stop it," Fitzgerald said.

He said Blagojevich was looking to pull $8 million in funding for a children's hospital after the hospital's chief executive officer did not give a $50,000 contribution to the governor's campaign.

Also, Fitzgerald said, it was expected that Blagojevich would soon sign into law a bill that would direct a percentage of casino revenue to the horse racing industry -- a bill supported by someone who contributed $100,000.

"To let that bill be signed, to me, would be very, very troubling," Fitzgerald said.

One big question now is whether Blagojevich retains the right to name Obama's successor if he remains in custody or even under indictment. The answer is yes, according to Fitzgerald.

Jay Stewart, executive director of Chicago's Better Government Association, agreed. He said Blagojevich retains the right to fill the senate vacancy until he's out of office, which won't happen unless he quits or is removed from office by impeachment.

At a press conference Tuesday, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat, said he wants the Illinois legislature to act quickly to pass a law setting a special election to fill Obama's seat, in order to prevent Blagojevich from making a tainted appointment or there being a lengthy vacancy in the Senate.

"No appointment by this governor under these circumstances could produce a credible replacement," Durbin said.

This is going to be Obama's Whitewater. The GOP and the right wing noise machine will be screaming about this for Obama's entire career. How much did he know about the scheme? All evidence so far appears to be "zero", but that won't stop them from looking for or creating links where there are none.

Way to go, Blago. Democratic Stupidity at its finest. New tag: Blagogate.