President Joe Biden had the perfect reaction when asked Monday by Fox White House correspondent Peter Doocy if he’d consider pardoning failed former president Donald Trump.
Mediaite notes that just last week Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would consider giving Trump a presidential pardon if he happens to be the next president.
That led Doocy to ask Biden the same question as the president was preparing to board Marine One at the White House.
“Did you see that Ron DeSantis said that if he became president, he would pardon Trump? Where are you on the idea of the president pardoning Trump?”
The president laughed, raised his hand, waved, and walked away as he remarked, “I’ll see you guys. That’s a great question.”
A lawsuit filed by a former aide to Rudy Giuliani accuses the former New York City mayor of selling presidential pardons and splitting the profits of those sales with indicted former president/sex offender Donald Trump.
The Independent reports that the suit was filed in a New York court on Monday, alleges that Giuliani bragged that he had sold pardons from Trump and made a cool fortune from the endeavor.
A former aide to former Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani says he told her the ex-New York City mayor and then-president Donald Trump were offering to sell presidential pardons for $2 million apiece, according to court documents.
The bombshell allegation was levied in a complaint filed against Mr Giuliani by Noelle Dunphy, a New York-based public relations professional who is suing him for “unlawful abuses of power, wide-ranging sexual assault and harassment, wage theft, and other misconduct” committed while she worked for him in 2019 and 2020.
(Giuliani) also asked Ms. Dunphy if she knew anyone in need of a pardon, telling her that he was selling pardons for $2 million, which he and President Trump would split. He told Ms. Dunphy that she could refer individuals seeking pardons to him, so long as they did not go through “the normal channels” of the Office of the Pardon Attorney, because correspondence going to that office would be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
If indeed Trump did agree to sell pardons with Giuliani’s help, the two could be facing enormous legal jeopardy, especially if Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith decides to pursue the accusations found in Dunphy’s lawsuit.
Smith is currently investigating if Trump committed crimes connected to the 2020 election and his removal of classified documents from the White House which he later took with him to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) got reminded of allegations that he tried to obtain a presidential pardon from disgraced ex-president Donald Trump and presented with the receipts by MSNBC host Ari Melber during a Monday appearance on The Beat.
Melber made reference to a December 2020 meeting at the White House where Trump discussed strategy with top advisers for how they could successfully overturn the results of the presidential election which was won by Joe Biden. He then asked Gaetz what he had suggested Trump do about the election. The Florida Republican replied, “Nothing. I was seeking to understand the process because this was unprecedented.”
Melber: “Did you hear anything in that meeting that you considered unconstitutional or illegal?”
Gaetz: “No.”
The host then inquired, “Then why after that meeting did you seek a pardon for yourself and others who attended that meeting?”
That’s when Gaetz began suggesting he never did any such thing:
“That’s been misreported What I’ve suggested is that there were various groups of people that President Trump was considering pardoning for a variety of reasons, and I was very involved in a number of pardon negotiations.”
Melber brought out the receipts, citing testimony given under oath to the Jan. 6 House Select Committee:
“They all testified under oath that you specifically requested a pardon,” he said, before playing snippets of testimony, including from former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. and former White House senior adviser Eric Herschmann.”
Gaetz went into full spin mode:
“Cassidy Hutchinson is a known liar. There’s testimony she’s given that directly results in perjury. So, I would certainly take exception with her testimony. I do not remember it the same way Eric Herschmann does. I did have conversations with Eric Herschmann about different groups of people that could potentially receive pardons, even including some of the people who may have committed a technical violation of federal law but that weren’t engaged in violence on Jan. 6.”
The congressman then suggested that he only sought pardons for others, not himself:
“I had a lot of conversations with [former White House Presidential Personnel Office Director John] McEntee about pardons for other folks and different groups of people. Whether or not some lawmakers would’ve fallen within those groups, I think, you know, could be debated and discussed. But when it comes to, you know, was I asking for something specifically for me and only me under those circumstances? The answer would be no.”
Dang. @AriMelber presents a bunch of receipts after Gaetz denies seeking a pardon from Trump in the last days of the Trump presidency pic.twitter.com/jIW497wGHd
It should be noted that Gaetz also reportedly sought a pardon from Trump for allegations that he had sex with an underage girl and took her across state lines in direct violation of federal law.
For anyone curious as to whether or not former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is still (allegedly) day drinking, a botched attack he leveled at former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson seems to confirm that Rudy is indeed hitting the sauce (allegedly!) as soon as the sun comes up.
Giuliani thought it would be a good idea to try and question Hutchinson’s credibility even though he himself hasn’t had an ounce of that commodity in at least a decade.
And while he was at it, Rudy also managed to incriminate himself!
On Twitter, Giuliani posted this:
“The January 6 Witch Hunt Cabal has now exceeded even its prior fraudulent. The last witness was a reckless liar. Contrary to her false testimony she was never present when I asked for a pardon.”
He then added:
“Actually, I told the President I did not want or need one.”
Rudy later deleted those tweets, but the internet is forever:
Adventures in Deleted Tweets: Rudy Giuliani Edition.
Once again the January 6 Committee of “Russian Collusion” Liars suborned perjury from Cassidy Hutchinson. I specifically told President Trump I did not want or need a pardon.
I,also,have witnesses to corroborate that she and the Committee are perpetrating yet another lie.
Shortly after the January 6 House Select Committee presented testimony that six House Republicans asked failed former president Donald Trump for pardons in the final days of the Trump administration, two of the six named — Reps. Matt Gaetz (FL) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA) — took to Twitter and began making posts that only succeeded in proving just how terrified they are of what the future holds for them.
What might that future entail? According to Norm Eisen, who served as co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment trial, Gaetz and Greene are facing 15 years in jail and disqualification from ever holding public office:
Wow. Congressmen helping Trump on & before 1/6 & then demanding pardons.
Makes me think of 18 USC 201:
A public official who corruptly seeks anything of value in return for an official act or colluding in fraud shall be imprisoned for up to 15 years & disqualified from office
— Norm Eisen (norm.eisen on Threads) (@NormEisen) June 23, 2022
Such cold hard facts clearly triggered Gaetz and Greene.
The January 6 Committee is an unconstitutional political sideshow. It is rapidly losing the interest of the American people and now resorts to siccing federal law enforcement on political opponents.
Spreading gossip and lies is exactly what the January 6th Witch Hunt Committee is all about. pic.twitter.com/Z30AJd4tSX
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 23, 2022
That led to plenty of pushback on social media. Take a look:
“I heard that she asked White House Counsel’s Office for a pardon from Mr. Philbin.”
Patrick Philbin was Trump’s Deputy Counsel and Deputy Assistant to the President in the White House Counsel’s Office.
You asked for a pardon and you’re not even denying it.
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) June 23, 2022
Oh Marge, there are receipts and it's pretty obvious this isn't a witch hunt. In the words of Eric Herschmann, “Get a good f*cking criminal defense lawyer. You’re going need it.”