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Consequently, the Ministry of Justice is investigating possible criminal offenses, which allegedly involve cash payments in exchange for pardons. That comes from a 20-page document that US judge Beryl A. Howell made available Tuesday. Other sources give the length of 18 pages.
However, about half of the paper at the end of August was blackened. Therefore, almost no details of the case are public. However, the document shows that one person offered “a substantial political donation in exchange for a pardon or stay of execution.” Two other people allegedly acted as lobbyists to initiate clemency within the framework of a “clemency system against bribery.”
All names become unrecognizable. In the course of the investigation, more than 50 digital storage media, including smartphones, laptops and USB sticks, were seized and evaluated.
A spokesman for the Justice Department told CNN that night that “no government official is or has been the target of this investigation, now or in the past.”
Sorry for Ivanka, Donald Junior and Jared too?
Aside from these current developments, Trump could still make extensive use of his clemency rights in his final weeks in office.
As the “New York Times” reports, citing two informed sources, there have recently been discussions between the president and his lawyers about such a measure for Trump’s three oldest sons, Donald Junior, Eric and Ivanka, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and lawyer Rudy. Giuliani.
Unlike the Flynn case, which had to answer in court for his crimes, the possible pardons for the Trumps, Kushers and Giuliani would be a preventive measure against possible proceedings in the future. According to the New York Times, Trump has recently expressed concern that his successor Joe Biden may take legal action against those individuals.
Donald Trump Junior had been part of Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Russia affair in the past. It was about alleged contacts with Russia with the aim of obtaining information about Donald Trump Senior’s then competitor for the White House, the Democrat Hilary Clinton. Contrary to Flynn’s case, no charges were filed. Kushner had been caught with false information when requesting his security rating at the White House. Trump had given him the rating anyway.
There have been comparable cases in the past
However, according to the New York Times report, it is unclear what possible crimes Eric and Ivanka Trump and Giuliani could have been guilty of. With Giuliani, his personal attorney, Trump is said to have spoken directly about a possible pardon. Giuliani is currently in front of the cameras again and again to spread new and unsustainable claims about the alleged manipulation in the November 3 elections.
Historically, cases of such advanced “broadband reprieve” rarely, but have definitely been proven. Then-President Gerald R. Ford had protected his scandalous predecessor Richard Nixon against all presidential crimes. President Jimmy Carter, in turn, forgave thousands of Americans who illegally avoided preparing for the Vietnam War.
