Trump election Archives - Iran News Daily

Trump criticized for granting clemency to convicted criminals

reporter 1222 — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 11:47:26 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – US President Donald Trump has come under fire for granting clemency to Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, convicted in 2011 by a federal jury in Chicago on 17 counts.

The ex-Illinois governor was convicted of trying to sell the US Senate seat vacated when President Barack Obama was elected in 2008 among others.

Blagojevich, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison and has been serving his prison time at a Colorado federal prison since 2012, was released from the federal prison in Englewood, the Bureau of Prisons said in a statement on Tuesday.

Trump has for long said he thinks Blagojevich had served enough time and been treated unfairly.

“He served eight years in jail, that’s a long time, and I watched his wife on television, I don’t know him very well, I met him a couple of times, he was on for a short time on ‘The Apprentice’ years ago, seemed like a very nice person, don’t know him, but he served eight years in jail, there’s a long time to go,” he said Tuesday.

Trump also gave pardons to Michael Milken, once considered Wall Street’s “junk bond king,” as well as six others, while commuting the sentences of another three people.

Speaking of Milken, who was indicted in 1989 in an insider trading probe and then pleaded guilty to securities violations, Trump said, “We have Mike Milken who’s gone around and done an incredible job for the world with all of his research on cancer.”

After paying $1.1 billion and serving about two years in prison, he has headed the non-profit Milken Institute that works on a wide span of studies, including curing cancer, public health, aging, California and financial markets.

The people Trump has pardoned were convicted on charges including defrauding the federal government and theft among others.

Trump’s move to pardon these people was criticized by both Democrats and Republicans.

“Blagojevich is the face of public corruption in Illinois, and not once has he shown any remorse for his clear and documented record of egregious crimes that undermined the trust placed in him by voters,” five Republican congressmen from the state said in a joint statement.

Referring to Blagojevich and Milken, Democratic US Representative Bill Pascrell said, “The pardoning of these disgraced figures should be treated as another national scandal by a lawless executive.”

Trump also pardoned former New York Police Department Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who received a prison sentence of four years in 2010 for tax fraud and for making false statements.

In addition, the president pardoned Eddie DeBartolo Jr., the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers football team, who pleaded guilty in 1998 to not reporting a felony related to payment demanded a riverboat casino license in a bribery scheme.

In total, Trump granted clemency to 11 convicted criminals, including three women on Tuesday.

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Trump may lose 5 mlns vote, but still may win

reporter 1222 — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 11:02:17 +0000

TEHRAN (Iran News) – US filmmaker Michael Moore says that President Donald Trump could lose the popular vote by 5 million, but still may win in the 2020 election.

“I believe whoever the Democrat is next year is going to win by 4 to 5 million popular votes,” the Oscar Award documentary filmmaker and activist has told Democracy Now.

“The problem is… if the vote were today, I believe, he [Trump] would win the electoral states that he would need because living out there, I will tell you, his level of support has not gone down one inch.”

“In fact, I’d say it’s even more rabid than it was before because they’re afraid now. They’re afraid he could lose because they watched his behavior.”

“They are voracious in their appetite for Donald Trump,” Moore added, “that’s the bad news.”

In 2016, Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton, secured the popular vote with a sizable lead of 2.8 million votes, tantamount to 2.1 percent of the total vote.

Nonetheless, Trump comfortably won the election by winning key states, thanks to the so-called Electoral College system.

The system overrides the popular vote, which gives the victory to the candidate winning the most ballots. It instead makes 538 electors across different states that are chosen based on each state’s representation in Congress, liable for electing the chief executive. Therefore, if a contestant secures at least 270 of the electoral votes, they have won the presidential race.

Opponents say the system counters the fundamentals of a democratic republic, calling for its abolition.

In his interview, Moore also warned Democrats against choosing a so-called moderate candidate like “Hillary Clinton,” saying they might lose again.

“If we go that route, it’s guaranteed we will lose the Electoral College. We will win when we put somebody on that ballot that excites the base – women, people of color, young people,” he said.

A new poll released last week showed Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders had overtaken former Vice President Joe Biden in head to head matchup with Trump.

The survey, conducted between December 18 and 19 by Ipsos/Reuters, found that 39 percent of US vote favored Sanders over Trump, compared to 37 percent who preferred Biden over the Republican president who could win.

Moore has supported Sanders for the Democratic nomination but did say he would be satisfied with Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts as the candidate.

His remarks came as the House of Representative impeached Trump on December 18 over allegations that the president had abused his power by withholding $391 million in US security aid to Ukraine as leverage to pressure Kyiv to conduct an investigation that would benefit him politically.

And according to a new poll released last week, a majority of Americans approve of Trump impeachment.

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