Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Trump Pardons Flynn

 An unintended yet powerful reminder of how President Trump corrupted the criminal justice system, and how close we came to losing our democracy, is Mr. Trump's pardon today of Michael Flynn. Mr. Flynn, a confessed liar, was fired by President Trump for misinforming the Vice President about his dealings with the Russians and because he was vulnerable to Russian extortion. Notwithstanding, Mr. Trump fired FBI Director James Comey for resisting presidential pressure to drop the case against Flynn and, then, had his Attorney General, William Barr, finish  the job (or so he thought) by moving to dismiss before a court could impose sentence. When the court required Mr. Barr to explain his inexplicable and unprecedented turnabout, Mr. Trump delayed until the election ended and then granted today's pardon.

Now we await with apprehension the final blows this roundly rejected president may deliver to the rule of law as he makes his flailing exit from office.

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