Let the members of Bush II’s administration go first.
No, nobody should give Hillary Clinton a pardon. If she did anything that legitimately warrants conviction (I would be surprised, but not flabbergasted if this turned out to be the case), let her be convicted and punished; there’s no reason why she should be above the law. If not, let the witch-hunters witch-hunt.
Obama shouldn’t issue her a pardon, because not only is that tantamount to saying she did something wrong, but it also reinforces the perception that the Democratic party is a cabal of insider elites who bend the rules for each other, which is the last thing either Clinton or Obama wants to do.
There might be some political advantage for TRUMP in issuing her a pardon, in that it makes her look guilty without forcing him to do anything to prove it, but such a move would be highly unpopular among his followers who took the “Lock her up!” rhetoric seriously, so I think he would lose more than he would gain.
I’m assuming what Comey said is true - that she probably (maybe?) did something which is technically illegal but which is not typically prosecuted. Prosecutors have discretion in such cases, but I don’t think the country needs this.
It would make for an interesting situation – the career pros saying “what we really have on her is penny-ante stuff nobody gets prosecuted for; fired yes, prosecuted, no”, the partisan hacks at the cabinet and undercabinet positions saying “so f***ing what, let’s make her spend a fortune in lawyers” and the Big Kahuna possibly saying “We won, didn’t we? So in a way she WAS punished? Yesterday’s news. Gimme something new and tremendous that will make me look good”
But it wasn’t a matter of “penny-ante stuff”, it was about a very core legal concept. It’s not like charging a guy for jaywalking because he was in a rush; it’s like charging a blind guy who didn’t realize he was jaywalking.
If Obama issues a pardon to Clinton over her emails, he should be thorough and make it a blanket pardon to cover Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell as well.
A pardon could save the nation a lot of unnecessary drama. Hillary almost got 50% of the votes (a little more than Trump). Aggressively going after her with criminal charges will only divide the nation further .
A pardon will eliminate a headache for Trump. He campaigned on “lock her up” but that will drive a permanent wedge between his presidency and the Congressional Democrats. He’ll get the Republicans mad if he doesn’t go after her. It’s a no win situation.
Obama needs to pardon her. Let people bitch about it for a few days. That gets this political problem out of the way and we can move forward.
I’m sorry…now we want to avoid a lot of unnecessary drama? Now that the GOP won the presidency it’s time to stop the bullshit? To hell with that.
Comey, you might recall, also behaved in a partisan way when he tossed the insinuation that HRC had something to hide on the Weiner laptop. It was an unnecessary revelation and reeked of the blatant intention to harm the HRC effort. Since he also said that there wasn’t anything worth prosecuting, can’t we just take it for granted that their effort was to prevent HRC from being elected, not to actually protect America from her enemies seeing the agenda of a meeting that was held with some poobah two or three years ago.
Comey, if he stays on, is headed for the same disrespect that Hoover gained in his later years.
That said, there could be some advantage to the country if Obama would pardon Trump from the sedition admitted to by the Russians, using their security services to hack his opponent’s correspondence. Just say, "I’m giving him a pass for the sake of a smooth transition. He needs a pass because, otherwise, he might wind up in Federal Prison, and, you know, that would be sad for us all, because Pence would make an even more horrible POTUS.
Do you also want all of the Republicans (and other Democrats) who waged “terror on that country” to be turned over to Iraq, or just her?
But just Hillary, right? Not Bush or Cheney or Powell or Rumsfeld? Just Hillary. Because Hillary was in the Senate and voted for the war, which makes her a war criminal. But just Hillary, not the other Senators.
That also applies to Pence.
No, Trump said Pence is allowed to make a mistake.
Don’t see why anyone feels the need to respond to something as ridiculous as “hand her over to Iraq”.
Because baseball season’s over, and there are no football games on right now.
I’ve changed my mind. President Trump should appoint a special prosecutor to examine all of evidence available concerning crooked ol’ Hillary’s emails, her server, the actions of her minions, and her cover up of deaths in Benghazi.
Otherwise, ol’ Hillary will only sit and home and sulk about what could have been. Or plot the destruction of all those voters who failed her.
Sure. Why not? We need to get to the Republican’s bid-ness and start shoveling money into bottomless pits again. May as well blow it all on hearings they know will go no where. It’s either that or another pointless war and I don’t want to give Trump any ideas.
I might have been in favor of the pardon until I heard Chelsea may run for Congress. Now I want the Clinton Foundation investigated to see if Chelsea was involved in illegal activities. I just want the Clintons, the Bushes, and in 4 years the Trumps gone from the public eye. America does not need dynasties. Wish them godspeed but go away.