Thread by @tomiahonen

Let's talk about Pardons

We DON'T want Trump to pardon ANYONE in the current administration or Senate, House, other GOP or NRA or Fox etc. The more Trump pardons the more messy will be the investigations & trials & punishment to follow

BUT Trump WILL PARDON HIMSELF & his kids

This thread is not about 'what we want' Trump to do. It's about what Trump MIGHT actually do. Don't waste your breath responding that you want no pardons or you want the pardons revoked or whatnot

Trump is President, regardless of his Impeachments, he CAN PARDON whoever he wants

Trump can ONLY pardon for FEDERAL CRIMES. Even in those cases, the pardoned WILL BE LIABLE for CIVIL lawsuits.

And Presidential pardons do not absolve legal responsibility from STATE crimes. For example, most who participated in DC riots committed both FEDERAL and STATE crimes

So in many cases (not all) if Trump were to pardon someone - like Ivanka - then she'd be cleared of FEDERAL crimes but states, like New York - can still prosecute her and toss her into prison for years... and then there are the OTHER states, IL, CA, NJ, FL, and DC - to add to it

But Trump WILL issue more pardons. It is 100% certain Trump will pardon himself. EVEN if Trump & Pence have some last-minute shuffle, where Trump suddenly resigns & Pence becomes President for a day, & pardons Trump - Trump doesn't TRUST Pence, so Trump would ALSO pardon himself

But Trump's self-pardon will be nearly worthless, because of at least a TEN state investigations in 7 states - which will lead to Trump convictions in most if not all. Trump will not get out of prison before he dies of old age. I promise you that. REGARDLESS of a Federal pardon

So Trump WILL be pardoning himself. Do not be shocked when that happens. Trump will VERY LIKELY also pardon his kids, probably also Jared, Stephen Miller and the First Tramp/Worst Lady #FLOTITS. That must be the only promise keeping her near him now.

If Trump pardons Rudy Giuliani, it is because Rudy has now blackmailed Trump - and they've made a deal which has Giuliani defending Trump in the Senate trial for Impeachment.

Beyond those closest to Trump, is a VAST OCEAN of potential pardons

The Trump Administration has been a KLEPTOCRACY. Every Trump cabinet member (with possible exception of Dr Ben Carson, who apparently IS alive but asleep in an undisclosed location) is a criminal. Many of them are CAREER criminals, desperate for pardons

All Republicans who carried water for Trump the past 4 years, from Ted Cruz to Matt Gaetz to Gym Jordan to Some Steve Named Kevin McCarthy to Gov DeathSantis of Florida - are grifters, con-men and career criminals who are begging for pardons.

Same is true of the Fox personalities from Hannity to Tucker Carlson to Laura Ingraham to whatever the 'judge' is and that idiot Tomi, Lahren (as opposed to the sane Tomi, Ahonen). They all are begging for pardons.

Beyond the very visible cadre of Trumpomobsters, are the behind-the-scenes criminals, starting with the Nazi Jew, Stephen Miller. All sorts of mid-level mobsters in the White House and throughout government, that Trump has installed in various posts like his boy Lewandowski

Beyond this tier, come 'regular Republicans' who sided with Trump. I don't mean Lindsey Graham or Devin Nunes. I mean all other maganutters in Congress (with exception of Romney on Senate side, Liz Cheney on House side). And their STAFF..

That is a LOT of 'Republicans' that Trump might pardon. The more there is strife and accusations between Trump and GOP, the less of these will come. Many who left the White House in past days/weeks - will likely have abandoned their pardons (Bill Barr, Betsy DeVos, McEnemy etc)

A separate tier is GOP FUNDING SUPPORTERS. The rich who send money to Trump and to GOP leadership. They've had a feasting time not only with the massive tax cuts, but various no-bid contracts offered to GOP funding millionaires & billionairs. Many of them want pardons

Beyond the rich fat cats, are GOP activists, semi-celebrities who are often featured on Fox. Trump has seen them, and likes what he see on TV, he is tempted to issue pardons for some of those.

Then there is the mob that stormed the Capitol Building. Is something like 500 people could be even 1,000. They are begging Trump for a blanket pardon of all who took part in the assault.

Beyond that, are OTHERS who set up and supported that attack, doubling the total number

There is ample reporting that ALL sane legal minds have advised Trump to NOT PARDON himself, and not pardon his kids. We know Pat Cipollone & Jay Sekulow have said this. You can bet when Trump asked Chris Christie, Bill Barr & Lindsey Graham - they ALL said the same

Trump has been angry that he seems unable to pardon his kids or himself - and thought - if I can't pardon myself, I am not pardoning anyone else either.

I am hoping Trump holds onto this vengeful emotion until 20 January at noon. I hope so. I don't think it will hold

Trump has another problem - he has SOLD pardons. If I had PAID a million dollars for a pardon, and that pardon never came, I would most def make it known that Trump was selling pardons. I could even try to make a deal wtih the DOJ, to get my pardon in exchange of ratting Trump

Trump may VERY WELL be 'obligated' to issue a series of several dozen pardons - even up to 100 - to kind of 'random'; Republicans and criminals. People NOT closely associated with him. Those would be BRIBE sold pardons (and should be investigated by DOJ)

So what to expect? If we're really lucky, Trump pardons only himself & a handful of close family.

In the worst case Trump issues a SERIES of BLANKET PARDONS covering thousands including most in his White House, many GOP and all in DC riots

#PardonRoulette is the last game