1/ Though presidential pardons & commutations have often generated some controversy, none have done so more than Trump's, who while issuing the fewest since William McKinley has delivered the most corrupt by a wide margin.

It's no surprise he's been using them as bribes.
2/ William McKinley delivered just 162 pardons and 50 commutations.

Obama gave 212 and 1715 respectively.

Trump? 27 pardons and 11 commutations. Period. https://www.justice.gov/pardon/clemency-statistics
8/ Dwight Lincoln Hammond, Jr. and Steven Dwight Hammond, Oregon ranchers convicted of arson; Trump supporters held an illegal armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in their support, despite the two rejecting the protesters' assistance. https://www.vox.com/2018/7/10/17553348/trump-pardon-steven-dwight-hammond
9/ The protest was due to their sentences being extended due to federal minimum mandatory rules.

While their increased sentence may indeed have been unwarranted, Trump only intervened because of his supporters & chose to ignore dozens of similar cases. https://www.newsweek.com/who-are-dwight-and-steven-lincoln-hammond-father-and-son-granted-clemency-1016348
13/ Former Army Major Mathew L. Golsteyn, charged with murder after killing an unarmed Afghan civilian in Marjah, who he claimed was a bomb maker for the Taliban.

The first of several cases where Trump stepped in before the trial was even complete. https://taskandpurpose.com/news/trump-golsteyn-pardon/
15/ Former Navy Seal Eddie Gallagher, whose own men testified against him for numerous war crimes. Not actually pardoned, Trump interfered throughout his trial in numerous ways and ordered the Navy to reverse punishment decisions against him. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/27/us/navy-seals-edward-gallagher-video.html
/34 Trump preemptively pardoning allies already sits poorly with many, and some are speaking of finding a way to overturn them, though it is unclear if that is possible. What many do note is that a federal pardon does not protect from charges by states. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/07/trump-cant-escape-the-states.html
36/ And now allegations have emerged that Trump has been engaging in a presidential pardon bribery scheme.

We already know that Trump thinks literally everything and anything is for sale, including our military: https://twitter.com/windthin/status/1143559225165176832
37/ Still, the fact that the Department of Justice has been actively looking into a presidential pardon bribery scheme is a mind-blowing turn of events, especially since they've apparently been doing so for some time now. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55156241
End?/ There is bound to be a lot more information coming out now that we've had this first initial glimpse of what is happening. Even if Trump tries to bury this, in a few months, Biden will be in and he can't stop it then.

As the reality TV (p)resident would say, stay tuned!
PS: Note that most of the pardons mentioned above went to people long ago released from prison

There was no urgent need to pardon them.

This was Trump expressing clearly that he felt their crimes were okay.
You can follow @windthin.
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