Washington Post: Trump commutation
of Roger Stone's sentence an 'unforgivable betrayal' of office
by Mike
Brest
The Washington Post editorial board blasted
President Trump's decision to commute Roger Stone's sentence.
The opinion piece, which declared the commutation to
be an "unforgivable betrayal" of his office, was published Friday
night, hours after the White House announced Stone would not be serving any of his three-year prison
sentence.
Trump’s commutation of Stone’s sentence horrifies the left
On Friday, President Trump commuted Roger Stone’s sentence on the ground that Stone was an unfortunate victim of the Democrats’ Russia hoax. Democrats and other leftists responded with the usual outrage.
This outrage seems absurd when one considers the recent report that one of the leading Black Lives Matter fundraisers is Susan Rosenberg, a convicted domestic terrorist who was once on the FBI’s most-wanted list. Rosenberg is relevant to a discussion about Stone because Bill Clinton, on the last day of his presidency, commuted her 58-year-prison sentence after only 16 years.
Roger Stone, 67, was tried for the crime of being a rather obnoxious Trump supporter who made theatrical threats at someone who didn’t take them seriously and made statements to Congress that were deemed false. The FBI, which is even more obnoxious, armed itself to the teeth and made a dawn raid to arrest this aged, non-violent offender. Worse, someone in the FBI tipped off CNN about the raid.
Low-level DOJ operatives, after agreeing with DOJ management on a proposed sentencing term, then submitted to the court an out-of-left-field demand that Stone be sentenced to 7 to 9 years in prison. DOJ leadership instead submitted a sentencing memorandum asking for a sentence closer to three years – at which point the original prosecutors theatrically resigned. The left went into hyperdrive, but the judge – no friend to Trump – agreed with the more modest recommendations and sentenced Stone to 40 months (or slightly over three years) in prison.
On Friday, President Trump commuted even that sentence:
“Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency,” McEnany said in a statement Friday night. “There was never any collusion between the Trump Campaign, or the Trump Administration, with Russia. Such collusion was never anything other than a fantasy of partisans unable to accept the result of the 2016 election. The collusion delusion spawned endless and farcical investigations, conducted at great taxpayer expense, looking for evidence that did not exist.”McEnany added that Mueller’s office “resorted to process-based charges leveled at high-profile people in an attempt to manufacture the false impression of criminality lurking below the surface.”“These charges were the product of recklessness borne of frustration and malice,” she said.
Matt Margolis has put together a helpful list of the left’s over-the-top reaction to this commutation. Here are just a few examples:
“Donald Trump has abandoned the rule of law and made a mockery of our democracy. He truly is the most corrupt president in history,” tweeted Elizabeth Warren.“There are no limits. This President will do anything and everything to flaunt the law,” echoed Amy Klobuchar.“Does @realDonaldTrump’s corrupt commutation of Roger Stone piss you off?” asked Congressman Ted Lieu. “Then take your anger and put it to good use.”
Leftists were more mellow when it came to Susan Rosenberg, a member of the May 19th Communist Organization, a far-left terrorist group that engaged in bombings and assassinations from the late 1970s through the early 1980s. Rosenberg was charged for her roles in the 1983 bombings at the U.S. Capitol, the U.S. National War College, and the New York Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association.
On January 20, 2001, right before walking out of the White House, Clinton commuted Rosenberg's 58-year sentence after only 16-years. You can watch Tucker Carlson’s interview with Bernie Kerik about Rosenberg, during which Kerik details just how dangerous Rosenberg was to America and Americans.
Rosenberg matters today because she’s a board member at the primary fundraiser for the Black Lives Matter movement:
Thousand Currents, the California-based charity that manages fundraising operations for the national arm of Black Lives Matter, includes on its board a convicted terrorist whose sentence was commuted by former President Bill Clinton on his last day in office.[snip]Financial statements prepared by Thousand Currents reveal that 83.3% of BLM Global Foundation’s total spending during its 2017, 2018 and 2019 fiscal years was spent on travel, consulting and payroll, while only about 6% was put toward grants to outside organizations such as the local BLM chapters, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported.
BLM, of course, is an avowedly Marxist organization that aims to overthrow the United States government.
Democrats are comfortable with backing a Marxist revolutionary group that funnels its financing through an organization headed, in part, by an unrepentant terrorist. Democrats therefore have no moral high ground from which to complain about Trump’s decision to commute Stone’s sentence.
Image: YouTube screengrab
Trump Is Surrounded by Criminals
https://mexicanoccupation.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-fall-of-donald-trump-final-days.html
“The legal ring surrounding him is collectively producing a historic indictment of his endemic corruption and criminality.” JONATHAN CHAIT
TRUMP’S
SECRET AMNESTY: ENDORSED BY NANCY PELOSI AND MEXICO!
“Trump
Administration Betrays Low-Skilled American Workers.”
“Extensive research by economists
like George Borjas and analyst Steven Camarota reveals that the country’s
current mass legal immigration system burdens U.S. taxpayers and America’s
working and middle class while redistributing about $500 billion in wealth
every year to major employers and newly arrived immigrants. Similarly, research
has revealed how Americans’ wages are crushed by the country’s high immigration levels.” JOHN BINDER
DONALD TRUMP, huckster, conman,
cheat, pathological liar, bankrupt tax-evading phony billionaire, golf
cheat, adulterer and whore chaser with Tang-rinsed hair!
TRUMPERNOMICS FOR THE
RICH…. and his parasitic family!
Report:
Trump Says He Doesn't Care About the National Debt Because the Crisis Will Hit
After He's Gone
"Trump's
alleged comment is maddening and disheartening, but at least he's being straightforward about his indefensible and self-serving neglect. I'll leave you with this reminder of the scope of the problem, not that anyone in
power is going to do a damn thing about it."
"The tax overhaul would mean an unprecedented windfall for the super-rich, on top of the fact that virtually all income gains during the period of the supposed recovery from the financial crash of 2008 have gone to the top 1 percent income bracket."
President Trump Commutes Roger Stone’s Prison Sentence
3:11
President Donald Trump on Friday commuted the 40-month prison sentence of seasoned Republican operative Roger Stone just days before his term was scheduled to commence, the White House announced.
A source familiar with the matter told Breitbart News that the president called Stone earlier Friday to tell him of his plans to commute his sentence. Stone confirmed to the Associated Press that President Trump called to say that he would commute his sentence that was part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into now-debunked collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. The Associated Press added: “Stone was celebrating in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with conservative friends and said he had to change rooms because there were “too many people opening bottles of Champagne here.”
John Cardillo, a political commentator and former NYPD officer, shared a photo of himself posing with Stone, tweeting: “Roger is feeling and looking better than he has in months, and wants you all to know how much he appreciates all the love and support.”
Roger is feeling and looking better than he has in months, and wants you all to know how much he appreciates all the love and support. pic.twitter.com/G8N5FauTo3— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) July 11, 2020
The White House issued the following statement on Stone’s commutation:
Roger Stone is a victim of the Russia Hoax that the Left and its allies in the media perpetuated for years in an attempt to undermine the Trump Presidency. There was never any collusion between the Trump Campaign, or the Trump Administration, with Russia.[…]Mr. Stone would be put at serious medical risk in prison. He has appealed his conviction and is seeking a new trial. He maintains his innocence and has stated that he expects to be fully exonerated by the justice system. Mr. Stone, like every American, deserves a fair trial and every opportunity to vindicate himself before the courts. The President does not wish to interfere with his efforts to do so. At this time, however, and particularly in light of the egregious facts and circumstances surrounding his unfair prosecution, arrest, and trial, the President has determined to commute his sentence. Roger Stone has already suffered greatly. He was treated very unfairly, as were many others in this case. Roger Stone is now a free man!
Stone was convicted of making false statements during a 2017 testimony to the House Intelligence Committee regarding his relationship with WikiLeaks and witness tampering in a congressional investigation. He has been out on bail since his February sentencing. Though a commutation will mean no prison time for Stone, his conviction still stands.
“Mr. Stone is incredibly honored that President Trump used his awesome and unique power under the Constitution of the United States for this act of mercy,” an attorney for Stone told ABC News.
The development follows a Fox News report stating that President Trump could announce a commutation of Stone’s sentence on Friday evening.
Earlier Friday, the president told reporters that he was “looking at” pardoning Stone, stating that his longtime confidant was “very unfairly treated.”
In June, President Trump wrote on Twitter that Stone “was a victim of a corrupt and illegal Witch Hunt, one which will go down as the greatest political crime in history. He can sleep well at night!”
Trump Friends and Family Cleared for Millions in Small
Business Bailout
Beneficiaries of the PPP included a lettuce farming venture
backed by Trump’s son, Kushner companies, and a dentist who golfs with the
president. The figures were released after a lawsuit by several news
organizations, including ProPublica.
by Jack Gillum, Isaac Arnsdorf, Jake Pearson and Mike Spies
July 6, 8:35 p.m. EDT
President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump taking
questions about the Paycheck Protection Program with Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin on April 28. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses
of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
Update, July 7, 2020: This story has been updated to include
a statement from Peter Febo, chief operating officer of Kushner Companies.
Businesses tied to President Donald Trump’s family and
associates stand to receive as much as $21 million in government loans designed
to shore up payroll expenses for companies struggling amid the coronavirus
pandemic, according to federal data released Monday.
A hydroponic lettuce farm backed by Trump’s
eldest son, Donald Jr., applied for at least $150,000 in Small Business
Administration funding. Albert Hazzouri, a dentist frequently spotted at Mar-a-Lago, asked for a
similar amount. A hospital run by Maria Ryan, a close associate of Trump lawyer
and former mayor Rudy Giuliani, requested more than $5 million. Several companies connected to the president’s son-in-law
and White House adviser, Jared Kushner, could get upward of $6 million.
There’s no ban on businesses connected to Trump’s orbit
receiving money. Democrats added a provision to the CARES Act excluding
government officials and their family members from receiving some bailout
funds, but not those from the PPP.
The firms sought funding under the Paycheck Protection
Program, one of the Trump administration’s sweeping pandemic relief efforts.
Created in late March by the CARES Act, it allowed small businesses —
generally, those with fewer than 500 employees — to apply for loans of up to
$10 million. The loans can be forgiven if used to cover payroll, rent, mortgage
interest or utilities.
The program paid out $521 billion to almost 4.9 million companies
in an effort to provide relief for small businesses and their workers amid the
sudden economic shock brought on by the pandemic. As applications slowed after
the initial rush, $132 billion remained unspent, and Congress voted to extend
the program.
After resisting releasing the names, the government bowed to
pressure from critics and watchdog groups. On Monday, the administration
disclosed only those entities that were approved by banks for loans over
$150,000. A consortium of news organizations, including ProPublica, has sued
the administration under the Freedom of Information Act to release the full
list of recipients and loan details.
The program has been criticized for including some loan
recipients, particularly large, publicly traded companies, and for favoring
wealthier businesses that had existing relationships with banks. In some cases
customers could essentially skip the line. Overall, however, many economists
praise the PPP for having gotten billions to companies relatively quickly.
The New York Observer, the news website that Kushner ran
before entering the White House and is still owned by his brother-in-law’s
investment firm, was approved for between $350,000 and $1 million, data shows.
A company called Princeton Forrestal LLC that is at least 40 percent owned by
Kushner family members, according to a 2018 securities filing, was approved for
$1 million to $2 million. Esplanade Livingston LLC, whose address is the same
as that of the Kushner Companies real estate development business, was approved
for $350,000 to $1 million. The company’s Chief Operating Officer, Peter Febo,
responded, “Several of our hotels have applied for federal loans, in accordance
with all guidelines, with a vast majority of funds going to furloughed
employees.” The loans to Kushner-related companies were first reported by The
Daily Beast.
In addition, up to $2 million was approved for the Joseph
Kushner Hebrew Academy, a nonprofit religious school in Livingston, N.J.,
that’s named for Jared Kushner’s grandfather and supported by the family.
In April, a bank approved a loan of between $150,000 and
$350,000 for the Pennsylvania dental practice of Albert Hazzouri, who golfs
with Trump and frequents Mar-a-Lago, the president’s private club in Palm
Beach, Florida. In 2017, Hazzouri used his access to the president to pass him
a policy proposal on club stationery on behalf of the American Dental
Association. He addressed the note to Trump “Dear King.”
Hazzouri also leaned on his relationship with Trump in an unsuccessful
bid to obtain a dentistry license to expand his business in Florida. Hazzouri
didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment Monday.
Firms tied to the president’s children also stand to benefit
from the program. A small indoor lettuce farming business applied for funds
between $150,000 and $350,000, SBA data show. Trump Jr. had invested in Eden
Green Technology, a vertical farming company just south of Dallas, whose
co-chair, Gentry Beach, was a Trump campaign fundraiser.
Trump Jr. purchased his shares as Beach sought Trump
administration funding for his other global business interests, ProPublica
first reported in December 2018.
The company has said Trump Jr. played no role in running Eden
Green and was brought in during “U.S. friends and family fundraising efforts.”
A spokesman, Trevor Moore, said that the company “followed the standard
procedure” in applying for the PPP loan and that “receiving it has provided for
the preservation of 18 jobs.” It’s not clear how much Trump Jr. invested or whether
he’s been paid any dividends since purchasing his shares. Neither Trump Jr. nor
a spokesman returned a message seeking comment.
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