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OPINION | "I wish him well": Trump's shocking support for Ghislaine Maxwell

2020-07-24T17:37:24.038Z


The pattern here is impossible to ignore. Maxwell has been accused of helping Jeffrey Epstein commit serious and grotesque crimes related to the sexual abuse of children.


Editor's Note: Elie Honig is a CNN legal analyst and a former federal and state prosecutor. The opinions expressed in this comment are yours. Read more opinion at CNNe.com/opinion

(CNN) - We all saw what happened, but it's still hard to believe. When asked Tuesday at a White House press conference about the federal prosecution of Ghislaine Maxwell for her alleged role in the recruitment, grooming and sexual abuse of underage girls, President Donald Trump replied: Frankly, I wish him well.

Just to make sure we weren't collectively hallucinating this strange response to the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged accomplice, Trump said again: "I wish him well."

Let's take a moment to reflect. Imagine asking a history president, John Adams, FDR, Kennedy, Reagan, about a case brought by his own Justice Department alleging that a defendant had committed serial sexual abuse and responds, "I wish you well." The heads would have exploded. And they should have done it here too.

But there must also be a sense of recognition.

When else has Trump publicly expressed warm wishes or sympathy for people accused of crimes by his own Justice Department, and then taken steps to undermine his prosecutions? Where to start

  • LOOK: Ghislaine Maxwell: Trump wishes you & # 8220; good & # 8221; to the alleged accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein

He tweeted incessantly in support of his longtime political confidant Roger Stone. He initially praised Stone for having "guts" for refusing to testify or cooperate with special adviser Robert Mueller. Later, Trump's tweets turned into a maelstrom of outrage over Stone's judge, jury, and prosecutors.

Trump finally granted a commutation to Stone, who never cooperated with Mueller, just days before he was due to go to federal prison.

Trump also criticized the injustice of the prosecution of Michael Flynn, his first National Security adviser; sometimes the president openly contemplated a pardon.

Finally, Trump's loyal attorney general, William Barr, took the unprecedented step of undermining his own Justice Department prosecutors and trying to dismiss Flynn's conviction, even though Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. . Flynn at one point cooperated with Mueller, but that eventually fell apart.

Flynn disarmed (as we used to say when he was at the Justice Department) and, for some reason, decided that he no longer wanted to answer all of the prosecutors' questions.

Like Flynn, Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager, at one point agreed to cooperate with Mueller, but then effectively removed the deal when he was found lying to the special adviser. Trump had repeatedly tweeted support for Manafort, at one point comparing him favorably (and oddly) with Al Capone.

  • MORE: Judge orders publication of previously sealed documents in Ghislaine Maxwell defamation case

In May, Manafort was released before federal prison for concerns related to covid-19.

What do these 3 cases have in common? Trump has personal and political ties to each defendant.

Stone and Flynn committed campaign-related crimes and the Trump administration, and Manafort committed crimes in the run-up to being named Trump's campaign manager.

Trump took at least some step to help each person's cause, from favorable public statements to an official commutation. And none of the defendants cooperated against Trump; two of them, Flynn and Manafort, started doing it, but then changed their minds.

The case against Maxwell's co-conspirator Epstein had already been rocked by controversy. Florida prosecutors gave Epstein an absurdly lenient filing agreement in 2008, allowing him to dodge federal charges and serve just 13 months in state custody (while allowing him to get out of jail to go to work 6 days a week) for prostitution charges for their participation in underage girls.

Chief prosecutor at the time, Alex Acosta, later became Trump's secretary of labor before resigning amid public fury over Epstein's indefensible and inexplicable deal.

This is not to argue that a pardon by Trump to Maxwell, or some other form of political or external meddling, is imminent or probable; That would be too politically self-destructive to seriously consider, particularly before an election (although Trump has previously defied conventional norms).

But the pattern here is impossible to ignore. Maxwell has been accused of helping Jeffrey Epstein commit serious and grotesque crimes related to the sexual abuse of children.

Trump was a personal friend, and he used to party, with Epstein. Trump once stated that “I have known Jeff for 15 years. He is a fantastic guy. It is so much fun being with him. He is even said to like beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are young. "

Even on Tuesday, Trump acknowledged that “I have known her (Maxwell) several times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach. I think they (Epstein and Maxwell) lived in Palm Beach. "

In 2017, Trump Organization lawyer Alan Garten told Politico "as I explained earlier, he (Trump) had no relationship with Mr. Epstein and had no knowledge of his conduct."

When asked about Maxwell at Tuesday's press conference, Trump could easily (and should) have simply said, "I cannot comment on a pending case, the case presents very serious crimes, and I am confident that justice will be done here." " But instead, he decided to publicly declare his moral support for an alleged accomplice of an accused sex trafficker.

There's no way of knowing exactly what motivated Trump's flamboyant public display. But he has previously publicly expressed sympathy for his personal friends who ended up as criminal defendants. The key now is to pay extra attention to make sure this case doesn't end up shorted, like the previous ones.

Now, your questions:

Adam (Canada): Can Congress pass a law that prevents a president from issuing a pardon to someone who has been implicated in a bad action involving the president himself?

  • MORE: A cell phone in aluminum foil and US $ 1 million in cash for a house, the Office of the Prosecutor presents a case to keep Ghislaine Maxwell in prison

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has stated that she intends to pursue precisely this type of policy: "Legislation is needed to ensure that no speaker can forgive or commute the sentence of an individual participating in a cover-up campaign to protect that president from criminal prosecution. ”

But such a bill is unlikely to become law. Pelosi would need the support of not only his fellow Democrats in the House, but also the Republican-controlled Senate and, ultimately, Trump himself.

The law proposed by Pelosi against the exercise of the power of forgiveness to benefit "an individual who is involved in a cover-up" also appears to be in tension with the Constitution, which does not establish such a limit to the power of forgiveness.

The Constitution provides a remedy, should Congress determine that the President has abused his power by issuing inappropriate pardons. That remedy? The impeachment process.

However, given that the House recently indicted Trump, and the elections are fast approaching, a second indictment by Trump based on his issuance of pardons seems extremely unlikely.

Mary (North Carolina): Does the president legally have the power to impose a mandatory order requiring people to wear face masks in public?

Yes. Federal law empowers the President (acting through the Department of Health and Human Services) to make and enforce regulations that "in his judgment are necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases" within the United States.

The law gives the president the power to take extraordinary measures through such regulation, including "inspection, fumigation, disinfection, sanitation, extermination of pests, destruction of animals or articles that are so infected or contaminated" and other measures that are consider necessary.

Requiring people to wear a mask in public would, in any case, be a less drastic application of this power than those specifically listed in the law.

The law also establishes that a federal misdemeanor is punishable by a maximum fine of US $ 1,000 and one year in prison, for violating said order.

Dulcie (Minnesota): Is it constitutional for a president to decide to forgive without a formal request from the culprit?

The Constitution does not require a person to formally request a pardon before receiving one from the President.

However, for more than 125 years, the Justice Department has operated the Forgiveness Lawyer Office to "provide assistance in the exercise of executive clemency."

The pardon attorney systematically reviews the pardon requests, coordinating with the respective federal prosecutor's office that handled the original case, and then makes formal recommendations to the president.

  • MORE: Who is Ghislaine Maxwell, the woman at the center of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal

There is no specific legal requirement that an application for pardon must go through this process, but traditionally, presidents have used the pardon attorney to ensure that pardons are granted in a fair and equitable manner.

President Trump has essentially abandoned the use of the pardon attorney, instead of granting pardons primarily to high-profile public figures and personal and political associates. More recently, the pardon attorney reportedly did not participate in Trump's commutation of Roger Stone's sentence.

Three questions to observe:

1. Will Barr testify as scheduled on July 28 or will he not show up (as he has before)?

2. Will Trump's decree seeking to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census face a legal challenge?

3. Will a court uphold the Georgia governor's lawsuit seeking to override the Mayor of Atlanta's mandatory face mask order?

Ghislaine MaxwellJeffrey Epstein

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-07-24

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