‘Dipping His Toe in the Waters of Family Pardons’: CNN’s Abby Phillip Suggests Trump Granting Clemency to Jared’s Dad Foreshadows More to Come
CNN’s Abby Phillip suggested that Donald Trump granting clemency to his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner, could foreshadow a series of more family pardons in the final days of his presidency.
On Wednesday evening, the White House announced more pardons, the most notable of which were Kushner as well as Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign associates who were convicted of crimes by the Muller probe. Notably, Kushner was prosecuted and pleaded guilty to tax evasion and witness tampering by then-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, who called Kushner’s scheme to hire a prostitute to help blackmail his brother-in-law to prevent testimony against him as “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes” he encountered.
“Abby, with Charles Kushner here, I guess Trump checks maybe the final box of pardoning someone with family ties?” guest host Kate Bolduan asked.
“Dipping his toe in the waters of family pardons, I think, is what we can certainly say this is,” Phillip agreed. “I think it I think it definitely warms people up for the idea that the president is more than willing to pardon people just simply because of their personal connection to him.”
Weeks ago, as the reality of his 2020 election loss settled in, Trump reportedly began discussing pre-emptive pardons for members of his family who worked in his administration. Such a proactive move is legally and Constitutionally suspect, but that hasn’t stopped one of Trump’s most outspoken supporters on Fox News, Sean Hannity, to come out as all in favor of it.
“If you look at all the pardons the president has issued since he’s been president, the vast majority of them have gone to political allies, people who he is personally close to,” Phillip added, noting the a pattern of behavior that would lend itself toward shielding his family from prosecution as they left office. “And not to people who would have gone through a normal process or people who you could make a case where the criminal justice system has worked against them.
“Kate, I think one of the important things about what we’re seeing here is this is clearly also a president who knows his pardon power is running out,” Phillip continued. “He only has a few more days to use it, so he’s using it in the most provocative way possible, which tells you everything you need to know about whether he truly believes that he will be president come January 21st, 2021, which we know he will not be.”
Watch the video above, via CNN.
