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Teri Kanefield Profile picture
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25 Nov, 6 tweets, 3 min read
Trump personally benefits from pardoning Flynn, so the pardon is an abuse of power.

Abusing power is when you use the powers and privileges of your office for self-enrichment, and to subvert the national interests in favor of your own personal interests.

Sound familiar?

1/
If it sounds familiar, it's because that is exactly what Trump was impeached for⤵️

nbcnews.com/politics/trump…

Being able to pardon associates who commit crimes, or co-conspirators, or a person who is lying to shield the president is (to say the least) deeply problematic.

2/
Can something be done?
I believe this can (and will) be challenged in court. Who has standing? How it will be done? I need time to think that over.

Meanwhile, Adam Schiff has introduced legislation to make this impossible in the future.
schiff.house.gov/news/press-rel…

3/
This is a misunderstanding:


The "except in cases of impeachment" is understood by constitutional scholars to mean that a pardon can't undo or stop an impeachment: A pardon can't restore the standing of someone who has been impeached and removed.

4/
A pardon doesn't require an admission of guilt to go into effect.

It also does not expunge a person's record.

The conviction remains. The pardon simply says that the person has been forgiven and will not be punished.



5/
Alexander Hamilton said the purpose of the pardon power was to mitigate the cruelty of criminal punishments in “unfortunate” cases. (Federalists papers 74)

Fact: 18th century punishments included stuff like hanging, branding, whipping, without "easy access to exceptions.”

6/

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More from @Teri_Kanefield

Teri Kanefield Profile picture
27 Nov
This is the one I wrote about here, terikanefield-blog.com/what-the-heck-…, the one in which Giuliani made the unhinged argument in that some counties allowed voters to fix errors, and others didn't, therefore THROW OUT ALL THE BALLOTS.

1/
Here is the decision: assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2041…

Other people are quoting the scathing language and the fact that the decision was unanimous and written by a Trump appointee.

In other words this is a 🔥.

So I'll talk about what a 🔥 this is from a different angle.

2/
Team Trump filed a complaint in the federal district court arguing that the election was flawed on Constitutional grounds and should be overturned.

The reason for making the argument on Constitutional grounds was that they were hoping the Supreme Court would take it.

3/
Read 17 tweets
Teri Kanefield Profile picture
26 Nov
Trump going after the Georgia voting machines is likely to suppress the Republican vote in Georgia for the runoffs, which could hand the election (and the Senate) to the Democrats.

This is the likely result for a few reasons.

1/

washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
Trump supporters in Georgia, who believe that Trump was robbed of the election partly because of the way Raffensperger conducted the election, and partly because of conspiracy theories about the machines, are angry and unlikely to vote.

washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…

2/
Raffensperger has already blamed Trump for suppressing his own voters. Trump kept saying mail-in ballots were not secure. Republicans who voted mail-in in the primary didn't vote at all in November.

3/
thehill.com/homenews/state…
Read 16 tweets
Teri Kanefield Profile picture
26 Nov
The way this is done is voters knowingly vote for a candidate who promises to break laws, or who has broken laws.

The Georgia voters who vote for Kelly Loeffler, for example, are choosing a form of government not based on rule of law.
So if, for example, a majority of voters choose a form of government not based on rule of law, rule of law will die.

How do you persuade such voters not to vote for lawbreakers?

Maybe we can't. Maybe we outnumber them.

Anti-democratic voters have always been with us. . .
The Trumps and McConnells and Loeffler supporters have always been with us. They supported slavery, which was obviously not "rule of law" in the sense we mean. They supported Jim Crow, which was obviously not democratic.
Read 9 tweets
Teri Kanefield Profile picture
25 Nov
Have you ever noticed that the great leaders of the world, the ones who have brought about the most enduring and positive changes, did not go out of their way to stoke anger and rage?
I am personally not seeing anyone preaching that Trump should be forgiven.

Maybe I'm missing it, but almost every source I read understands that investigation will (and must) continue.

Maybe we just read different sources.
The Biden administration includes the FBI and DOJ.
Many of the investigations must happen in the Biden administration because that's where the records are.

But Biden himself must be disengaged, or we have the same corruption we had under Trump.
Read 11 tweets
Teri Kanefield Profile picture
25 Nov
Actually, Biden said that he intends to appoint an independent Attorney General and let the AG make prosecution decisions, which is as it should be.

Corruption = president influencing prosecutions.

Then when Biden makes a comment like "unity!" people attack him for. . .what?
Maybe once Trump is out of office people who want to stir outrage and anger will need to direct that outrage against the Democratic president for saying . . . "unity" and "let's stop demonizing each other."

Attacking someone for preaching unity makes us . . .what?
My deepest fright over the past 4 years was when I realized the extent to which Trump was influencing what the DOJ did.

Now people want Biden to do what Trump did: Put his fingers on the scales by announcing what he wants. . .

Read 6 tweets
Teri Kanefield Profile picture
24 Nov
This is a platitude. Don't talk about "justice."

Be specific about what you want.

I want:

💠The truth to come out
💠Investigations to continue unhampered
💠Independent prosecutors to decide what to prosecute.
💠All money obtained illegally to be returned.

You?

1/
I want:

💠Congress to pass a relief bill that gives relief to ordinary people.
💠The new administration to undo the damage to our institutions done by the previous administration, which will take a lot of work and focus on building back agencies so they can do their jobs.

2/
I also want people to understand the extent to which your emotions and rage have been manipulated by people who profit from keeping you riled.

When I went to law school, I vowed to use my legal degree for "justice" . . .
Read 8 tweets

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