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US President Donald Trump has dismissed as “fake news” reports that an investigation into a possible “bribery for forgiveness” scheme has been launched at the White House.
The United States Department of Justice is investigating the alleged bribery scheme involving campaign donations to secure a presidential pardon.
The document, which analyzes the legality of the search for communications and electronic devices of people, including lawyers, is heavily written, with all identifying information hidden.
But it refers to a “secret lobbying plan” targeting “senior White House officials” to obtain a presidential “pardon or suspension of sentence” for an unidentified individual.
The scheme, investigated since at least August, appears to have involved lobbyists and lawyers, a political campaign donor and a man or woman who is or was in prison and awaiting presidential intervention.
The filing indicates that lobbyists and attorneys contacted White House officials to request a presidential pardon or clemency, citing “substantial past campaign contributions” and “anticipated future substantial political contributions” from a donor.
It suggests that the donor is making the offer on behalf of the person seeking clemency.
The document does not indicate when the actions involved occurred and, in the unwritten sections, there is no reference to Trump or his campaign.
The forgiveness investigation is fake news!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2020
But the presentation was revealed amid speculation that, with six weeks remaining in the White House after losing the Nov. 3 election, President Donald Trump is preparing to grant executive clemency to more people, after pardoning his former national security adviser Michael Flynn last Wednesday.
Trump has granted pardons or sentence reductions to several political allies, including campaign consultant Roger Stone, controversial former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Republican activist Dinesh D’Souza.
The New York Times reported that Trump has spoken of granting pardons to his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, his three oldest children and his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
There is also a public debate over whether Trump has been granted a pardon for any crimes he may be charged with related to his time in office, although the legality of that has never been proven.
“A self-pardon would be an appropriate abuse to end Trump’s presidency. It would also be corrupt, illegitimate, and void,” Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, United States Attorney General Bill Barr was quoted as saying there was no evidence of any significant election fraud that would reverse Democrat Joe Biden’s defeat over Trump.
“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” Barr told the Associated Press in an interview.
Trump threatens to veto military spending in battle over social media bias
Trump has threatened to veto a major military funding bill unless Congress repeals an accountability law that protects social media companies routinely accused of bias by the president.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides immunity to technology companies such as Facebook and Twitter from legal action over content posted by users.
Both platforms have become the target of Trump’s incandescent fury in recent weeks after they began attaching disclaimers to the president’s social media posts claiming he had lost last month’s election due to fraud. electoral.
Trump has doubled down on a months-long push to abolish the statute in response, a move that has been backed by his allies in Congress.
“Section 230 … represents a serious threat to our national security and the integrity of the elections,” the president tweeted last night.
“Therefore, if the very dangerous and unfair Section 230 is not completely terminated as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), I will be forced to unequivocally VETO the bill,” he added, referring to the bill. annual law authorizing the Pentagon. budget.
Section 230, which is a US liability protection gift to “Big Tech” (the only companies in America that have it – corporate welfare!), Is a serious threat to our National Security and Integrity Electoral. Our country can never be safe and protected if we leave it standing …
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2020
Some of Silicon Valley’s biggest companies have come under fire from both sides of the political spectrum for their handling of content during a bitter US presidential campaign this year.
Republican officials have accused tech companies of censoring conservative voices and questioned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey during congressional hearings in early November.
Both platforms limited the scope of many of Trump’s posts, particularly those in which the president rejected his electoral defeat or questioned the integrity of the voting process.
President-elect Joe Biden has also said Section 230 should be “repealed” but has not offered details of any plans to reform the legislation.
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