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June 3, 2025
Lots more new press stories about past and possible future clemency grants
Prez Trump's considerable clemency activity last week (basics here and here) not only has engendered considerable commentary about his recent efforts (some assembled here), but also has various major press outlets covering various clemency-related stories. Here is a partial round up of some notable pieces from major outlets about both past and future clemency activity:
From CBS News, "Former Trump supporter Pamela Hemphill refuses and returns her Jan. 6 pardon"
From Fox News, "Trump DOJ investigating Biden-era pardons amid concerns over state of mind"
From The Hill, "Cohen, Jackson urge Trump to reconsider pardons denied by Biden"
From NBC News, "Trump pardons drive a big, burgeoning business for lobbyists"
From Politico, "Chris Christie says Trump is giving free rein to white-collar criminals"
From the Washington Post, "Trump could pardon Diddy, but 50 Cent hopes to dissuade him"
June 3, 2025 at 10:42 AM | Permalink
Comments
Trump should not pardon Diddy. Nor should he pardon Menendez.
Posted by: federalist | Jun 3, 2025 11:19:42 AM
federalist --
Correct. Both are cases of years-long, flagrant, intentional criminality combined with arrogant and belligerently false denial now.
The problem is that you just don't know what Trump will do.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Jun 3, 2025 12:11:17 PM
https://jonathanjackson.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-jonathan-l-jackson-commutation-larry-hoovers-federal-sentence
Representative Jackson ('Rat-IL) is in favor.
Posted by: federalist | Jun 3, 2025 2:33:54 PM
I'm hoping, probably in vain, that SOMEONE here on the pro-defense side will make a principled, substantive case for pardoning Diddy Combs. That we rely too much on incarceration? That black men are disproportionately in prison? That his alleged victims agreed to it? That there's a good chance he's innocent and has been framed by the cops (Keith Lynch might chime in on that one).
This is one of the most visible criminal cases in the country, so it's time to hear from the defense side. Isn't this just a latter-day Willie Horton?
C'mon guys!
Posted by: Bill Otis | Jun 4, 2025 7:12:15 PM
"That his alleged victims agreed to it?"
Good point, Bill. Consent erases any injustice, no matter the circumstances or level of duress. They're like appeal waivers.
Posted by: Frank Fosdick | Jun 5, 2025 12:41:57 AM
FF --
So does that mean that, if Combs is convicted over his (preposterous) claim of consent, you favor pardoning him?
P.S. Appeal waivers have been approved by every circuit and are signed every day by hundreds of defense lawyers and defendants. Are they all wrong? Corrupt? Cowards?
P.P.S. Name a single defendant I ever pressured to sign an appeal waiver.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Jun 5, 2025 1:03:40 PM
Why, no, Bill, I think terms like "informed consent" and "adult" mean things.
Similarly, "constructive custody", "substantive due process", and in civil contexts, "contract of adhesion" can and must have significant meaning in any legal system claiming to be civilized.
At this point I see no reason not to assume that the jury in Sean "Puffy" Combs's case will conduct itself properly and reach an appropriate verdict. So far the case has not offered the sorts of absurdities and misconduct on the part of prosecutors and judges that the Jeffery "Young Thug" Williams case has in Atlanta.
https://apnews.com/article/young-thug-ysl-trial-no-murder-conviction-e42b77030e82d8d1307c70eb133f5cd3
"Are [appeal waivers] all wrong? Corrupt? Cowards?"
Do they all need to be before you'd entertain a single reservation about their use? One good apple unspoils the entire barrel, is that it?
"Name a single defendant I ever pressured to sign an appeal waiver."
First I'd have to be able to name one of your defendants, without further qualification. I recall reading the names of the corrupt Chicago cops you boasted of busting back in 1988 or so, but don't now recollect them.
But I am confident that you perceive yourself as never having exerted any pressure at all. Upon facing you and your shining halo, every defendant becomes thoroughly contrite and repentant, eager to endure suffering and privation, and to make restitution.
Saints know their own, which is how you discerned a kindred spirit in Scooter Libby.
Posted by: Frank Fosdick | Jun 6, 2025 2:33:58 AM
FF --
You of course are free to make these arguments to the courts to urge them to invalidate appeal waivers. As it happens, many lawyers, more versed in law and less snide than you, have tried over the last 35 years. They all failed. Are you better? Or is it just that your arguments lack merit so they don't get anywhere? (Well, don't get anywhere in court. Now the Internet, where you can hang out anonymously, is obviously a different matter).
Scooter Libby was not my case, and I had left the White House by the time of the commutation, which was vastly more justified than hundreds of Biden's. I've asked before, and characteristically you've evaded answering, whether you'd rather live next to Libby or defense bar hero Diddy Combs. Care to answer now?
"I recall reading the names of the corrupt Chicago cops you boasted of busting back in 1988 or so, but don't now recollect them."
It was 1977, I never said (much less boasted) that I "busted" them (I did the appeal after another AUSA convicted them at trial), and I have yet to hear you name a single defendant I pressured into a plea or anything else. Other than that, your answer is a real barn-burner.
Posted by: Bill Otis | Jun 6, 2025 12:37:22 PM
Bill,
"Scooter Libby was not my case, and I had left the White House by the time of the commutation, which was vastly more justified than hundreds of Biden's."
You took up Scooter Libby's cause--we are to assume on a wholly volunteer basis, because there was no funding disclosure in your op-ed advocating for him. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/06/AR2007060602292.html
If you received compensation for that piece, it's not too late to tell us who paid you for it, and how much.
"I've asked before, and characteristically you've evaded answering, whether you'd rather live next to Libby or defense bar hero Diddy Combs. Care to answer now?"
No, because I'd have to know what the experiences of their respective neighbors have been. Maybe Combs's household is fairly quiet from the perspective observers because, it is alleged, he had a lot of criminal behavior on premises and preferred not to attract attention. And maybe Libby's got grandkids for whom the backyard is the site of a constant tailgate party, complete with a swimming pool and a covered water slide called "Out the CIA Asset".
Thanks for clarifying your involvement with the Chicago corrupt-cop case.
Incidentally, is the William Otis of Otis v. Bacon an ancestor of yours?
Posted by: Frank Fosdick | Jun 12, 2025 7:27:41 AM
