Trump pardons 20 people, attacks Congress and prepares new appeals

Donald Trump’s pre-Christmas double move announces a presidential pardon for 20 people and openly defies Congress, threatening the specter of a veto on the $ 900 billion stimulus plan, approved after months of stalemate. In particular, the outgoing president urges that all aid not directly related to the Covid emergency be removed from the provision and that Americans receive much more substantial checks for $ 2,000 rather than the 600 expected now. “The aid plan is a shame,” he thunders in a video of just over four minutes posted on Twitter. “If unnecessary items” are not removed, it will be up to the next administration – says Trump – to take care of the aid package. “Maybe that administration is mine,” he adds, implicitly returning to the hypothesis that he can continue to be president in the White House.

The response from the Democrats is coming. “Democrats are willing to bring aid to Americans to $ 2,000,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted. Even the president-elect, Joe Biden, had commented on the aid plan saying that it is only a “first step”, an “advance”: more will have to be done, he said, and reiterated that, once he takes office, he will ask the Congress new aid. .

A few minutes before the stimulus plan was rejected, the White House published a list of 20 names: 15 were pardoned and another five were commuted. The list includes two people charged in the Russiagate investigation, four Blackwater guards implicated in the killing of Iraqi civilians and three former Republican members of Congress. After pardoning his former national security adviser Michael Flynn in recent days, Trump pardoned his campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, who had pleaded guilty in 2017 to false statements to federal investigators as part of the investigation into Russian interference. Alex van der Zwaan also blamed the same accusations, the list also including former Congressmen Duncan Hunter, Chris Collins and Steve Stockman. According to observers, this is just the beginning: new waves of pardons are expected in the coming weeks before Biden takes office.

Meanwhile, Trump’s legal advisor, Jenna Ellis, said that the president’s lawyers intend to continue challenging the regularity of the general elections on November 3 beyond the date of January 6, when Congress intends to count and formalize the vote one of the big voters that formalized Joe Biden’s election to the White House. “The American people deserve to know the truth and see everything that has happened come to light, so we intend to continue our efforts,” Ellis said in an interview. “All of this will not end at all on January 6, because what has happened must never be repeated in American history. Ellis also admitted that January 6 is the “date of last resort” set by the Supreme Court to challenge the outcome of the presidential election, but added that Trump intends to continue the legal battle to “protect the integrity of the election. in the years to come. “