Bottom-line, Stone has the goods on Trump

Of course, we have no logical proof that Stone has/had any actual evidence of criminal conduct on the part of the person who has the power to commute his prison sentence, but he certainly might. And if he doesn't, he at least CONvinced the conman-in-chief of the United States that he did/does.

I had deduced as much prior to viewing this conversation between Rachel Maddow and Laurence O'Donnell during the hand off from one MSNBC show to the next on Friday evening. Clearly, however, Rachel and Laurence had the same idea.



One old high school buddy of mine has remarked (repeatedly) that the Trump administration is an ONGOING CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE. This friend makes it clear that the ALL CAPS are intentional and warranted. I agree.

Less succinct, Anderson Cooper, on CNN, discusses the situation with reporter Kaitlan Collins then with commentators Jeffrey Toobin and Preet Bharara. This video includes more detail, including background on the crimes for which Stone was convicted.



This, on both videos, is described as what people expect from "Banana Republics" or authoritarian countries. NOT something that seems to ever have been confronted in the United States, even though there have been plenty of scandals in the federal executive branch over the years.

The possibility of Trump actually pardoning Roger Stone was only mentioned in passing by saying that Stone asked for a commutation, NOT a pardon and that he did so because a pardon implies guilt. That seemed dubious and misleading to me. In other words, a shiny object to distract journalists and pundits.

Then I read a Tweet where a person indicated that an impeached president is constitutionally prevented from granting a pardon to a person positioned as Stone is, convicted of crimes related to covering up Trump's guilt. When I went back to try to find that Tweet, I couldn't. But I did find this,

Remember people: The judge specifically said that Stone lied to cover up for the president. If Trump pardons Stone or commutes his sentence, he will be aiding Stone in that cover-up.

— Elizabeth de la Vega (@Delavegalaw) July 10, 2020

The US Constitution does state,

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Further explained in the Wikipedia article,

Pardons and reprieves may be granted by the president, except in cases of impeachment. There is currently no universally accepted interpretation of the impeachment exception. Some argue that the president simply cannot use a pardon to stop an officeholder from being impeached, while others suggest that crimes underlying an impeachment cannot be pardoned by the president.

I submit that the reason Stone asked for commutation (now) is because a pardon prior to the election, would have been like hitting the world's largest hornet's nest with the world's largest baseball bat.

I have no doubt that he 's hopin' and wishin' that Trump wins the election and will be able to pardon him shortly thereafter.