# What would be the point to pardoning Martha Stewart? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 1, 2018, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266 "2018-06-01T15:18:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/21 "2018-06-01T19:33:14Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Why doesn’t Trump just pardon Manafort now and be done with it? Hell, issue pardons across the board and be done with it. Then Manafort, etc. can’t plead the Fifth with respect to questions that would be evidence against them and Trump. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/22 "2018-06-01T19:57:31Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > It means she cannot own firearms. I can’t imagine Martha Stewart with a firearm unless it were a nice little pearl handled .25 automatic. What is her crime, that she discovered her stock was going to tank and sold it, then lied about it? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/23 "2018-06-01T20:05:11Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I can’t imagine Martha Stewart with a firearm unless it were a nice little pearl handled .25 automatic. > What is her crime, that she discovered her stock was going to tank and sold it, then lied about it? Maybe [a .380.](https://ruger.com/products/lcp/specSheets/3717.html) ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/24 "2018-06-01T20:07:12Z")
She was on The Apprentice. That is the only reason. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/25 "2018-06-01T20:11:45Z")
> [@Arkcon](#): > > God. I’m confused. I’d heard she’d given up on appeals back then and went to jail because she was a John Kerry supporter, and when he didn’t win, and she lost all hope of pardon, she might as well serve time. > > Seriously, I always used her (in my mind) as a prime example of the hardcore lib attitude – “It’s not fascism when _ **our** _ side does it.” > > Now she’s a conservative? Dangit. What’s with people, changing their point of view over time? Makes my pigeonhole worldview so difficult to maintain. Not that I’ve paid a huge amount of attention, but I’ve never thought of Martha Stewart as especially political either way. I mean, I know that she’s taken a few public stances, such as opposition to fur, that might be characterized as somewhat bleeding heart. But is that really a hot-button political issue these days? I actually concur that it might be just because she also represents the _Apprentice_ brand, which sort of makes her one of Trump’s people. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/26 "2018-06-01T20:25:59Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I can’t imagine Martha Stewart with a firearm unless it were a nice little pearl handled .25 automatic. Only a pimp from a cheap New Orleans whorehouse would carry a pearl-handled pistol. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/27 "2018-06-01T20:43:11Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > She is famous, she’s got money and she isn’t liberal. I don’t know if she’s a liberal or not, but [she says she’s always been a Democrat.](https://www.politico.com/blogs/click/2011/10/martha-stewart-im-not-a-republican-040236) I think _The Apprentice_ connection is the main thing. See similar thread for Blagojevich. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/28 "2018-06-01T21:09:49Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I can’t imagine Martha Stewart with a firearm unless it were a nice little pearl handled .25 automatic. [Let’s fix tha](https://amp.businessinsider.com/images/5a4f963bc32ae6961a8b47f3-1136-852.jpg)t, shall we? ---
**Author:** ![pdhenry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pdhenry/32/5561_2.png) [@pdhenry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pdhenry)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/29 "2018-06-01T21:50:28Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I cannot see how he could be charged with obstruction of justice either. This is a power granted to him by the constitution. I can’t see how exercising that power could be punished by anything other than impeachment. Well, he has to be charged to be impeached. Probably impeachment is the only way to prosecute a crime committed by a president, I’ll grant you that. ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/30 "2018-06-01T22:46:19Z")
In exchange for a pardon, Martha promised Trump she would help him clean his **Cabinet**. _And that’s a good thing._ ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/31 "2018-06-01T23:20:48Z")
One could make the point, hyperbolically perhaps, that the only two people in the history of the USA who have ever spent a minute in jail for insider trading or dog fighting were Martha Stewart and Michael Vick. The fact that they were singled out (whether for celebrity or any other reason) is a wrong that presidential pardons are designed to redress. But I bet Vick is not on the pardon list. There is also the point that a president whose chief goal in life is to glamorize his own narcissism, can best achieve that fame on the coat-tails of another celebrity. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/32 "2018-06-02T18:19:14Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Why doesn’t Trump just pardon Manafort now and be done with it? Hell, issue pardons across the board and be done with it. Pardons only apply to crimes already committed. So they don’t apply if the criminal acts are still ongoing. Also then can’t refuse to testify using the 5th Amendment (like RTFirefly said.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/33 "2018-06-02T18:25:37Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > Pardons only apply to crimes already committed. So they don’t apply if the criminal acts are still ongoing. What criminal acts are “still ongoing” in this instance? ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/34 "2018-06-02T18:26:28Z")
Comey was the [lead prosecutor](https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/05/business/prosecuting-martha-stewart-government-prosecutors-have-reasons-for-stalking.html). Maybe that has something to do with. Trump wants to stick it to Comey? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/35 "2018-06-02T18:45:20Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > What criminal acts are “still ongoing” in this instance? Well, maybe _Obstruction of Justice_. (Which is just what Martha Stewart was convicted of.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/36 "2018-06-02T18:56:55Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > Well, maybe _Obstruction of Justice_. (Which is just what Martha Stewart was convicted of.) But she was using a _coaster_, dammit! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/37 "2018-06-02T19:25:18Z")
One thing to keep in mind about the Mueller investigation is that it’s bigger than just nabbing Trump Administration and Campaign folks. The overarching task is to investigation Russian meddling in the US election process. So Trump could pardon everyone and the investigation would still continue. And Mueller would be royally pissed, which wouldn’t be a good thing for Trump in his post-presidential years. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/38 "2018-06-02T19:42:54Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > And Mueller would be royally pissed, which wouldn’t be a good thing for Trump in his post-presidential years. Oh, my. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/39 "2018-06-02T22:52:24Z")
Do people pardoned for crimes they already paid a huge fine for get their money back or are they shit out of luck, I’ve always wondered that? ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266/40 "2018-06-02T23:36:47Z")
I kinda think Trump legitimately thinks the rules should be different for famous people. And I think a lot of his followers think so too: that’s why they don’t mind the 3 wives and the Playmate and the “grab 'em by the pussy”: it’s different for demigods. And celebrities are demigods in America. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-be-the-point-to-pardoning-martha-stewart/815266.md?page=1)