Donald Trump, for the first time since after the election, leaves the White House for multiple days and flies to his Mar-a-Lago residence for the end-of-year festivities. Not without unleashing the latest in a long line of blows aimed at creating chaos before the arrival of Joe Biden in the White House.
So he vetoes the defense bill passed by a large majority in the House and Senate and threatens to put it on the economic stimulus plan resulting from an agreement between Republicans and Democrats. A double challenge to Congress but also to his party that accuses him of not supporting enough in his battle to overturn the outcome of the elections. Not only: Trump’s pardon also went to four mercenaries of the Blackwater company accused of war crimes in Iraq, responsible in 2007 for the massacre of Nisour Square in Baghdad in which 17 civilians were killed, including two children aged 8 and 11 years. An episode that provoked a wave of indignation in the international community. The wave of measures – experts explain – concerns many cases that would not meet the necessary standards to be taken into consideration, with Trump who would have decided to proceed bypassing the usual review process by the Department of Justice. In short, once again a use of the pardon power by the outgoing American president that detractors consider unscrupulous and mainly aimed at satisfying personal and political purposes. Suffice it to say, as the New York Times recalls, that out of 45 pardon or commutation of sentence measures launched by Trump since the beginning of his term, a good 88% have benefited people linked to the president and committed to promoting his political agenda. This is also evidenced by the sketch of many of the people pardoned in these hours. George Papadopoulos is the former foreign policy adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign who was convicted as a result of the investigation by special prosecutor on Russiagate Robert Mueller, as well as a lawyer linked to the tycoon, Alex van der Zwaan. Then there are the three former Trump-supporting congressmen, Duncan Hunter, Chris Collins and Steve Stockman, who have been sentenced to heavy penalties for crimes ranging from misuse of campaign funds to false statements to the FBI, including financial fraud and money laundering. In the case of Blackwater’s military contractors, then, American commentators also recall how the former head of the company is Erik Prince, the billionaire friend of the president and, among other things, husband of the Trump administration’s education minister, Betsy DeVos. The well-informed say that this new giant wave of measures is not the last that The Donald has in mind between now and January 20, when willingly or unwillingly he will have to give way to Joe Biden. Not to mention the most sensational hypothesis echoed several times within the walls of the Oval Office: that of a preventive pardon for the president’s eldest children – Donald Jr, Eric and Ivanka – to protect them, at least in part, from future legal troubles. As well as his personal lawyer and friend Rudy Giuliani. With Trump who might even go so far as to pardon himself. In the meantime, in the last hours from the White House a challenge to Congress has also started, with Trump that in a video posted on Twitter has defined “a disgrace” the agreement reached on the $900 billion economic stimulus plan, especially for that $600 check promised to Americans, which he would like to raise to at least $2,000. “If not,” he said, threatening his veto, “the issue will be taken care of by the next president … which then might be me. In addition, Trump is still defying Congress and vetoing the defense bill passed by a large majority in the House and Senate. Now that same majority could override the president’s veto. The mammoth measure calls for $740 billion in spending. Trump had asked unsuccessfully to include the abolition of immunity for social media and the abolition of the rule that allows changing the names of military bases in the name of Confederate figures.
by Jeremy Abbott – American Correspondent / PN