The real reason Donald Trump just pardoned Dinesh D’Souza
On Thursday, May 31, Donald J. Trump issued a statement that he was granting a full pardon to Dinesh D’Souza, and also was considering pardoning Martha Stewart and commuting the sentence of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. This may be signs that Trump is setting up more potential obstruction counts against him.
As Constitutional expert, Laurence Tribe, tweeted on his @tribelaw handle: “Trump’s Dinesh D’Souza pardon today, on top of his pardons of Scooter Libby and Joe Arpaio, make sense only as an elephant-whistle to Michael Cohen & all who know damning things about Trump: protect me & I’ll have your back. Turn on me & your goose is cooked. More obstruction!”
Trump does possess broad powers as President under Article II, Section 2 of the United States, which provides that the President “shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.” The Supreme Court of the United States has determined this power extends to various remedies issued by the President, including full pardons, conditional pardons, and commutations.
D’Souza was convicted of campaign finance violation for directing two of his associates to contribute $10,000 each to a senate campaign, and then reimbursed them. Trump and his press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, have asserted that D’Souza was “a victim of selective prosecution,” a claim that was rebutted during sentencing of D’Souza by the judge who issued the sentence.
In a transcript of a discussion with Trump, he also mentioned Blagojevich, who was convicted of corruption in federal court in Chicago for an alleged “pay to play” matter involving the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama.
As Tribe notes, the timing and nature of those Trump appears to be pardoning would suggest that he’s sending a strong message to Michael Cohen and others involved in the current administration- be strong and we will make things good for you! Former prosecutor, Joyce Alene, also suggested the timing and message Trump was sending, on her @JoyceWhiteVance handle: “Dinesh D’Souza was convicted of one of the crimes Michael Cohen is under investigation for, campaign finance fraud. Impossible to view this as anything other than a “stay strong “message from Trump to Cohen, especially given the timing.”
Dinesh D’Souza is a nasty man who has tweeted things (including right after the murder of Trayvon Martin, one about the then-current President Obama) that are comparable to Roseanne’s worst tweets. The bigger message here is that Donald Trump is shouting at the top of his lungs to his circle that he will treat them right if they do the same. Hopefully Tribe is right, and we see additional obstruction counts stemming from this latest conduct.
Daniel is a lawyer writing and teaching about SCOTUS, and is the author of the book “The Chief Justices” about the SCOTUS as seen through the center seat.