Superseding Indictment: 2024 Election a Referendum on Trump Pardoning Himself
The news and the known evidence last night about the superseding indictment in the Donald Trump Florida documents case convinces me that he is in greater jeopardy of a criminal conviction than ever before. I do not claim expertise on the criminal law, but every nationally renowned criminal lawyer I have read or heard within the last 24 hours expresses this conclusion.
This jeopardy of a criminal conviction may skyrocket if as anticipated, Special Counsel Jack Smith obtains an indictment from a federal grand jury in Washington on the January 6 charges. These matters involve the accumulating mountain of evidence that Trump attempted to steal the 2020 presidential election by use of fake electors and pressuring the then Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to conduct the lawful electoral vote count.
A Trump conviction on January 6 charges would become a virtual certainty by the cooperation with Jack Smith of former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. I was very impressed with the observation of Chris Christie that Meadows has been recently acting like a cooperating witness.
I often criticized Christie’s gubernatorial record, but he was without question one of the greatest US Attorneys in New Jersey history. His observations on the Trump investigations thus have total credibility with me.
What I cannot understand is WHY Trump went to such lengths to hide the documents and obstruct justice in the Florida case. Had he simply cooperated with the request to deliver the documents, he would have certainly avoided prosecution. Did he view the pilfered documents as a monetization opportunity?
The presidential election of 2024 is now a life-and-death struggle for Donald Trump to avoid jail by winning and pardoning himself, although the pardon would not cover the Georgia charges. The national leadership of the Republican Party knows this, and they are totally in the tank with Trump. They are followers of the religion of MAGA and the sect of Kevin McCarthyism, a contemptible cult of fascistic collaboration, more profoundly nefarious than Joe McCarthyism ever was.
MAGA and Kevin McCarthyism will succeed in getting overwhelming support from grassroots Republicans, both for the election of Trump and for his self- pardoning if he wins. Among independent voters, however, support for Trump will dwindle to subterranean levels once they become aware that Trump election means Trump self-pardon. The elimination of independent support will doom Trump’s election chances.
If Trump comes to realize that his election chances are doomed, along with his self-pardon option, he may well explore the possibility of an omnibus plea deal, both with Jack Smith and Fani Willis in Georgia. Terms of such a deal would include at a minimum no jail for Trump if he pleads guilty and agrees to no longer seek the presidency. Shades of the nolo contendere plea bargain of Spiro Agnew with the Maryland US Attorney’s office in 1973.
The conventional wisdom is that Trump is too arrogant and has too much hubris to consider a plea deal. Perhaps.
I do believe, however, that Trump lives in terror of going to jail. If his terror of prison exceeds his hubris, I believe he would attempt a plea bargain. I have no psychiatric credentials, however, so I cannot predict the outcome of the inner war between Trump’s hubris and nightmares of prison. Stay tuned.
Alan J. Steinberg served as regional administrator of Region 2 EPA during the administration of former President George W. Bush and as executive director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.
Trump should already be in jail. He is a clear and present danger to the security of the United States. And no Republican can be credibly believed if they say they would not pardon Trump. So the GOP has no moral justification for any of their candidates.
I agree 100%! Trump will always do what is good for Trump and making a deal to stay out of jail is the perfect play . He makes the deal,does not run, but becomes, in his mind the ” kingmaker”. I can see him now running around the country ” acting the big deal”. Democrats will be outraged and outraged people vote! Biden will just have to sit back and enjoy the show…
Have fun with another four years of Biden, or perhaps President Kamala. Yeah, that will work out well.
I’m wondering if Biden does get reelected will he pardon his son, or perhaps himself.
Peter Z–Biden has already said he won’t pardon Hunter. Trump has made it clear he will pardon himself and all of the January 6 insurrectionists. And a number of Republiscumbags have said the same thing. I’ll take 4 more years of Biden/Harris. Trump will be serving life in a federal prison.
You really believe Biden is telling the truth?
He will not pardon his son. Right.
Good luck with president Harris if Biden is reelected.
Be honest with yourself and ask do you really want Biden. Even many democrats want an alternative to Biden. You know this.
And many Republicans want an alternative to Felony Donnie. What’s your point?
And when Biden gets reelected, if he decides to pardon his son, well, let me remind you of all the criminals that Douchebag Don pardoned. Or are you OK with that?
Michael Schnackenberg is not a credible person. He is obviously afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome and can’t get out of that disease milieu even if he tried. He’s nothing but a hardcore Communist bent on destroying New Jersey and the United States by voting Democrat. So, if anyone is a danger to this state and country, it’s Michael Schnackenberg.
My point is why would it be terrible for Trump to be pardoned, if he is ever convicted of anything, yet fine if Biden pardons himself or Hunter.
Seems to be a double standard.
Only time will tell. No one has yet to be convicted of anything.
So go on with your name calling and insults. It is very amusing.
NoMoreMarxistsInDC, until you have the balls to identify yourself, you have no credibility. I have my suspicions of who you are, and if I’m right, you know I live rent free inside your demented head. I challenge you to reveal your identity so we can all see you for the scumbag you are.
No more Marxists had every right to post under a psudonym, as many others do.
I for one in the past have been threatened & had home vandalized simply for writing an opinion in a print newspaper.
It seems civil debate and exchange of opinion is silenced these days. Name calling, threats and slander are the order of the day.
Shameful we have gotten to this place. This is why InsiderNJ will eventually fail.
To get back to the discussion, why would it be terrible for Trump to be pardoned, if he is ever convicted of anything, yet fine if Biden pardons himself or Hunter?
As I said above, only time will tell. Let the system play out. Let the investigations unfold in an unbiased and fair fashion.
No one has been convicted of anything.
Schnackenberg makes false allegations against Sussex County Republicans because he’s a Democrat useful idiot and can’t help himself making personal ad hominem attacks on others, because he has mental issues. He has even called for threatening Sussex County Republicans. If that’s not a coward and public threat, I don’t know what is. He thinks he knows who I am, so let him say who I am. If he’s wrong, it’s defamation. If he’s right, it’s defamation. Schnackenberg is a coward and won’t tell the truth. That’s why he needs to be called out every chance possible.
As for Trump pardoning himself, so what! The Democrats have made up false allegations to indict him on made up evidence that won’t pass muster. Yet, Joe and Hunter Biden and the rest of the Biden Crime Family have been exposed with mountains of hard evidence, and witness and whistleblower testimony. If the Democrat-Communist Party can make up evidence and stories to indict a former president running for office again, which is felony election interference and election fraud, there’s no problem for Trump running for office, winning the Presidency (even if he’s in jail on false pretenses) and pardoning himself and every other person from his prior administration and companies who were falsely accused by the Democrat-Communists.