Prez Trump suggests to reporters there will be more episodes of “Celebrity Clemency”

May 31, 2018

I often come to think of Prez Trump as Huckster-in-Chief or Showman-in-Chief, and his TV salesman tendencies shine through when he teases his own presidential plans like a radio host hoping to keep you tuned in to the next segment. This morning, as blogged here, the tease was on Twitter in the form of a promise to “be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza.” This afternoon, as detailed in this Fox News piece, the tease was delivered to reporters on Air Force One about more grants of clemency to more high-profile federal felons:

President Trump said Thursday he was considering pardoning or commuting the sentences of Martha Stewart and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, following his announcement earlier in the day of a full pardon for conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza. The president’s comments came during a gaggle with reporters on Air Force One enroute to Houston, Texas.

Trump called the former governor’s sentence on corruption charges “really unfair” and added that “plenty of other politicians could have said a lot worse.” The president said that Blagojevich said something dumb, but that “lots of politicians” do.

“I’ll tell you another one … there’s another one that I’m thinking about. Rod Blagojevich — 18 years in jail for being stupid and saying things that every other politician, you know that many other politicians say,” Trump told reporters. “And if you look at what he said, he said something to the effect like ‘what do I get’ … stupid thing to say.”

The former Democratic governor, who was a contestant on Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” in 2010, began his 14-year prison sentence in 2012 after being convicted of corruption. Blagojevich’s scheduled release date is in 2024. Blagojevich was governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when he was impeached and convicted on corruption charges over allegations he took bribes for political appointments—including to the open U.S. Senate seat of former President Barack Obama.

Trump suggested he was more interested in “curtailing his sentence” than a full pardon. “I am seriously thinking about – not pardoning – but I am seriously thinking of a curtailment of Blagojevich,” Trump said….

“And there are others. I think to a certain extent Martha stewart was harshly and unfairly treated. And she used to be my biggest fan in the world … before I became a politician,” Trump said. “But that’s ok I don’t view it that way.”

Stewart was convicted in 2004 of obstructing justice and lying to the government as part of an insider trading case. At the time, former FBI Director James Comey was the federal prosecutor who charged Stewart.

I noted in this post yesterday that Kim Kardashian on Wednesday afternoon was at the White House to speak in person with Jared Kushner and Prez Trump about her interest in seeing a clemency grant for Alice Marie Johnson, a grandmother serving LWOP for non-violent drug offense. I closed that post by saying “it would be something for Kimme to get clemency relief for a single federal defendant; it would be something special if she could secure clemency relief for a number of individuals.” For the record, I was not thinking about Martha Stewart or Rod Blagojevich or Dinesh D’Souza when I made that statement. But, jokes aside, this trio might want to send a thank you note to Kimme because it seems she did something to get Prez Trump’s clemency juices flowing. Now let’s all hope these juices flow to the benefit of some non-elites ASAP.

A few prior related posts: