In her book, "Nobody's Girl," the late Epstein victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, calls Ghislaine Maxwell an "apex predator." It was Maxwell who lured Giuffre and hundreds of others into Epstein's spiderweb of predation. She should face life in prison!
Ghislaine Maxwell is no better than the priests and other "mentors" of young children who groom them and then ruin their lives--just a different venue.
Yes, and her book left clues to what find names and activities of perpetrators that should be findable in the released files--if, in fact, they are released.
Part of the problem is the unlimited number of pardons that a president can bestow. They should be budgeted. Each 4 year term, the president should be allotted a given number of pardons. With limits in mind, maybe they wouldn't be spread about like seeding a field. With only a limited number to use, a little more sense and discretion might come into play. It might also not be a bad idea to have criteria that a person needs to meet to be considered for pardon.
In a way, Trump is also "pardoning" the predators in the Epstein files by redacting and STILL keeping the files from public view--just doing so before those poor rich guys ever get to trial.
It is past time for Congress to enact legislation at least helping to restrain abuses of the presidential pardon power. As Article VI of our Constitution emphasized, initially, the People immediately established our "Constitution" as "the supreme Law of the Land," and we declared that "the supreme Law of the Land" also would include federal "Laws" that were "made in Pursuance" of our Constitution. The People also "bound" all "Senators and Representatives" to "support [our] Constitution" by making laws in pursuance" of our Constitution. More specifically, in Article I, the People vested in Congress the power (and assigned the duty) to "make all Laws" that were "necessary and proper for carrying into Execution" absolutely "all" the "Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof," including the president. It's time that Congress started acting like it has the duty to exercise the powers vested in Congress to support our Constitution.
I think the presidential pardon power should be either abolished or severely limited. Once we liberate our nation from MAGA thr Office of the Pardon Attorney should be reformed and all requests for pardons or clemency routed through a rigorous,nonpartisan review process.
The power cannot be eliminated without an amendment to the Constitution. But as I mentioned a little lower, Congress has the power to limit it. Congress just needs to do so.
Dorothy, please see my comment below about Congress having the power to restrain the president's pardon power.
Justice Jackson (writing for the SCOTUS majority) addressed similar issues in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette in 1943. SCOTUS emphasized that it is actually "our duty" (at least, of lawyers and judges, but actually all Americans) "to apply the Bill of Rights to assertions of official authority" to fulfill our "task of translating the majestic generalities of the Bill of Rights, conceived as part of the pattern of liberal government in the eighteenth century, into concrete restraints on officials dealing with the problems of the twentieth century." "These principles grew in soil which also produced a philosophy that the individual was the center of society, that his liberty was attainable through mere absence of governmental restraints, and that government should be entrusted with few controls and only the mildest supervision over men's affairs. We must transplant these rights to" the "soil" of our country in our time.
It is long past time to transplant additional of the generalities of our Constitution (like the president's pardon power) to the soil of our country in our time for the same reasons as Justice Jackson and SCOTUS emphasized in Barnette.
This is very probably so. The Constitution, its wording, meanings, and understandings were good for the time. Over the years, there have been (for good or not) manipulations and contextual changes in interpretation. Then we have the current president who doesn't respect the document at all.
It would be unwise with the current congressional makeup and the influence of MAGA to approach opening up the Constitution for changes at this time.
One million likes! McTurtle did more damage to this country than anyone else since the civil war. Witness his refusal to convict orange dirt bag in the senate AND his actions in getting the former supreme court changed to a now inferior court.
I'm afraid the US will suffer the consequences of McTurtle's actions for a very, very long time.
Not the first nor the last time to be said, but you couldn't make up shit like this if you tried. In your worst caricatures you couldn't create a viler, more despicable, more wretched human being than Trump. From those demented, wandering chameleon eyes right down to the swollen cankles, life just keeps imitating comic books, which imitate life...
For all the thousands Americans Trump claims to save bombing ‘drug’ boats & murdering those on board, he’s proven by his 2025 drug-related pardons/commutations* he doesn’t care and just maybe, he’s lying:
1. Ross Ulbricht- life imprisonment
2. Jean Pinkard- 1 year, one day
3. Michael Harris-235 months
4. Larry Hoover- life imprisonment
5. Garnett Smith- 300 months
6. Charles Tanner- 360 months
7. Annabel Valenzuela- 384 months
8. Edward Sotelo- life imprisonment
9. Joe Sotelo - life imprisonment
10. Former Honduran President Juan Hernandez - 540 months
This sentence implies too much equivalency between Trump's pardons and those of other Presidents: "It’s not just that he’s used his authority to pardon people who probably shouldn’t be pardoned; other presidents have done that, although in smaller quantities."
No other President has pardoned such major drug dealers and (crypto) financiers of money laundering, drug running and sexual slavery. Has any President pardoned fraudsters, bribers, campaign financing violators and people who tried to overthrow our government before they had served years and worked to rehabilitate themselves?
No other President has used the pardon power to try to normalize financial crimes and to undermine the judiciary the way Trump has.
Contrarian, other Presidents have not used the pardon power as Trump is using it.
What good is a restatement of this question? We know he'd love to win her silence. I want to hear what can be done to derail this pardon. What is being done to prevent it.
Jerry Weiss's ideas do sound realistic. Yet...it depends on the defection of many Senators. The House seems more hopeful since the four Reps. goved with the Dems. Yes, cracks are showing. I guess all we can do is bombard Rebplicans in Congress.
I wonder if the people that have had their restitution nullified by trump’s pardons can pursue a claim against him if they can prove a quid pro quo? Nothing can be done about the pardon but perhaps a collateral remedy? Pardons do not mean the convictions are nullities, just not enforceable. Perhaps some lawsuits would scare him off.
Excellent thought, I’ve been thinking about those victims being cheated out of their restitutions myself. I hope every single one of them sues Donald Trump personally in civil court for all that they are owed.
It's maddening what is happening in the USA. I can't think of one thing trump hasn't made worse since 1/20. I have to spend Christmas with some MAGA relatives and the hardest part will be keeping my mouth shut. If any one of them starts spouting off about trump I will most likely lose it. I have no respect for any of them now, and rightly so.
Do not go!! I have cut my sister out of my life. I'm calmer, as calm as I can be with this goddamned administration in power. Your family will understand, which is a good thing!
The transgressions committed here by Trump are too onerous, too numerous and way too toxic to forgive or overlook. He and the support system that created him, nurtured him along the way and now manage him will not go away will not give up their fortunes are their power. Take this the right way but it may be time to bring back “the guillotine”.
The short-fingered vulgarian, with all his dirty pardons, still has quite a way to go, before he beats Andrew Johnson. On the other hand, he does have three more years.
Much of the separation and trouble we have today, can be laid directly at Andrew Johnson's feet. Nothing to be done about it now, but I believe it is a fact that should be known by all. He gave a blanket pardon to traitors, because he was a sympathizer, and that didn't change when he became President.
I’m more perturbed by Trump murdering drug smugglers extrajudicially because his justifications can / will be used to extrajudicially kill US citizens “trafficking / selling / using” drugs domestically … as well as killing others he calls “the enemy within” or “domestic terrorists.”
BUT AS TO MAXWELL — Trump won’t have to pardon her. She is challenging her conviction in court. Trump can just tell the DOJ / Bondi NOT TO OPPOSE HER petitions, appeals, and release from prison. AND WHEN SHE SUES THE U.S. for “malicious prosecution,”. Trump can tell the DOJ to settle the case for millions of $$$. [Though Trump will claim that he didn’t tell, order or influence the DOJ.]
This is what you get when you vote for a criminal … and he takes control over the US justice system. But I’m sure that the millions of people who voted for him never think about THAT.
Trump is now trying to dismantle NCAR, the National Cemter for Atmospheric Research. This entity gives warning for hurricanes, floods, high-velocity winds, and more. They share their data all over the world. I believe he is doing this as a negotiating strategy to force Colorado Governor J Polis to release Tina Peters from state prison where she belongs after interfering in elections. He can pardon federal crimes, but not state crimes.
In her book, "Nobody's Girl," the late Epstein victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, calls Ghislaine Maxwell an "apex predator." It was Maxwell who lured Giuffre and hundreds of others into Epstein's spiderweb of predation. She should face life in prison!
Ghislaine Maxwell is no better than the priests and other "mentors" of young children who groom them and then ruin their lives--just a different venue.
Even worse with lots of money involved.
I think even life in prison isn't good enough.if I was a judge she would be on death row.
Life in prison would be far worse for her than the death penalty. It would give her a lot more time to reflect what a horrendous person she is.
Life in prison i thr SuperMax federal pen in Flirence Colorado. 23 hours solitary daily. No special privileges, no puppy
Yes, and her book left clues to what find names and activities of perpetrators that should be findable in the released files--if, in fact, they are released.
Part of the problem is the unlimited number of pardons that a president can bestow. They should be budgeted. Each 4 year term, the president should be allotted a given number of pardons. With limits in mind, maybe they wouldn't be spread about like seeding a field. With only a limited number to use, a little more sense and discretion might come into play. It might also not be a bad idea to have criteria that a person needs to meet to be considered for pardon.
I'm seriously thinking that the President shouldn't have pardoning powers unless it is proven in court the prisoner is innocent.
In a way, Trump is also "pardoning" the predators in the Epstein files by redacting and STILL keeping the files from public view--just doing so before those poor rich guys ever get to trial.
Does anyone really wonder what he meant by "A lot of people will get hurt."
Nope! That phrase always refers to himself.
It is past time for Congress to enact legislation at least helping to restrain abuses of the presidential pardon power. As Article VI of our Constitution emphasized, initially, the People immediately established our "Constitution" as "the supreme Law of the Land," and we declared that "the supreme Law of the Land" also would include federal "Laws" that were "made in Pursuance" of our Constitution. The People also "bound" all "Senators and Representatives" to "support [our] Constitution" by making laws in pursuance" of our Constitution. More specifically, in Article I, the People vested in Congress the power (and assigned the duty) to "make all Laws" that were "necessary and proper for carrying into Execution" absolutely "all" the "Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof," including the president. It's time that Congress started acting like it has the duty to exercise the powers vested in Congress to support our Constitution.
I think the presidential pardon power should be either abolished or severely limited. Once we liberate our nation from MAGA thr Office of the Pardon Attorney should be reformed and all requests for pardons or clemency routed through a rigorous,nonpartisan review process.
The power cannot be eliminated without an amendment to the Constitution. But as I mentioned a little lower, Congress has the power to limit it. Congress just needs to do so.
The main problem with pardons is how this power is written in the Constitution.
We would need a Constitutional Amendment to change it.
Dorothy, please see my comment below about Congress having the power to restrain the president's pardon power.
Justice Jackson (writing for the SCOTUS majority) addressed similar issues in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette in 1943. SCOTUS emphasized that it is actually "our duty" (at least, of lawyers and judges, but actually all Americans) "to apply the Bill of Rights to assertions of official authority" to fulfill our "task of translating the majestic generalities of the Bill of Rights, conceived as part of the pattern of liberal government in the eighteenth century, into concrete restraints on officials dealing with the problems of the twentieth century." "These principles grew in soil which also produced a philosophy that the individual was the center of society, that his liberty was attainable through mere absence of governmental restraints, and that government should be entrusted with few controls and only the mildest supervision over men's affairs. We must transplant these rights to" the "soil" of our country in our time.
It is long past time to transplant additional of the generalities of our Constitution (like the president's pardon power) to the soil of our country in our time for the same reasons as Justice Jackson and SCOTUS emphasized in Barnette.
This is very probably so. The Constitution, its wording, meanings, and understandings were good for the time. Over the years, there have been (for good or not) manipulations and contextual changes in interpretation. Then we have the current president who doesn't respect the document at all.
It would be unwise with the current congressional makeup and the influence of MAGA to approach opening up the Constitution for changes at this time.
Not quite a pardon, but McConnell's refusal to act on Trump's second impeachment made all this possible.
One million likes! McTurtle did more damage to this country than anyone else since the civil war. Witness his refusal to convict orange dirt bag in the senate AND his actions in getting the former supreme court changed to a now inferior court.
I'm afraid the US will suffer the consequences of McTurtle's actions for a very, very long time.
Bingo. He'll not be treated kindly in the history books
Not the first nor the last time to be said, but you couldn't make up shit like this if you tried. In your worst caricatures you couldn't create a viler, more despicable, more wretched human being than Trump. From those demented, wandering chameleon eyes right down to the swollen cankles, life just keeps imitating comic books, which imitate life...
It’s been remarked before, how can publications like The Onion possibly compete with reality these days…
Of course he will, that's his way to 100% buy her silence. He cannot be impeached fast enough.
For all the thousands Americans Trump claims to save bombing ‘drug’ boats & murdering those on board, he’s proven by his 2025 drug-related pardons/commutations* he doesn’t care and just maybe, he’s lying:
1. Ross Ulbricht- life imprisonment
2. Jean Pinkard- 1 year, one day
3. Michael Harris-235 months
4. Larry Hoover- life imprisonment
5. Garnett Smith- 300 months
6. Charles Tanner- 360 months
7. Annabel Valenzuela- 384 months
8. Edward Sotelo- life imprisonment
9. Joe Sotelo - life imprisonment
10. Former Honduran President Juan Hernandez - 540 months
*see Office of the Pardon Attorney @ justice.gov
This sentence implies too much equivalency between Trump's pardons and those of other Presidents: "It’s not just that he’s used his authority to pardon people who probably shouldn’t be pardoned; other presidents have done that, although in smaller quantities."
No other President has pardoned such major drug dealers and (crypto) financiers of money laundering, drug running and sexual slavery. Has any President pardoned fraudsters, bribers, campaign financing violators and people who tried to overthrow our government before they had served years and worked to rehabilitate themselves?
No other President has used the pardon power to try to normalize financial crimes and to undermine the judiciary the way Trump has.
Contrarian, other Presidents have not used the pardon power as Trump is using it.
What good is a restatement of this question? We know he'd love to win her silence. I want to hear what can be done to derail this pardon. What is being done to prevent it.
https://algreen.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-al-green-files-resolution-impeach-president-trump-abuse-power-and
Well, yes, impeachment will solve a lot of our problems. I wonder if it's at all realistic before the midterms.
Check out Jerry Weiss. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/
GOP centrists help Dems defy Mike Johnson on ACA in stunning revolt Kate Santaliz & Andrew Solender https://www.axios.com/2025/12/17/mike-johnson-moderate-republicans-fitzpatrick-health-care-aca
Jerry Weiss's ideas do sound realistic. Yet...it depends on the defection of many Senators. The House seems more hopeful since the four Reps. goved with the Dems. Yes, cracks are showing. I guess all we can do is bombard Rebplicans in Congress.
I wonder if the people that have had their restitution nullified by trump’s pardons can pursue a claim against him if they can prove a quid pro quo? Nothing can be done about the pardon but perhaps a collateral remedy? Pardons do not mean the convictions are nullities, just not enforceable. Perhaps some lawsuits would scare him off.
Excellent thought, I’ve been thinking about those victims being cheated out of their restitutions myself. I hope every single one of them sues Donald Trump personally in civil court for all that they are owed.
And get attorneys fees on top of it.
It's maddening what is happening in the USA. I can't think of one thing trump hasn't made worse since 1/20. I have to spend Christmas with some MAGA relatives and the hardest part will be keeping my mouth shut. If any one of them starts spouting off about trump I will most likely lose it. I have no respect for any of them now, and rightly so.
You probably can’t, but this would be a good year to boycott Christmas at your relatives.
I cut off all contact with three of my six siblings. BTW-Two other brothers also have nothing to do with them.
😕 just another reason to despise MAGA. Just like the Civil War, divided families.
Do not go!! I have cut my sister out of my life. I'm calmer, as calm as I can be with this goddamned administration in power. Your family will understand, which is a good thing!
I’m sorry to hear that; I can understand the reasoning, I can still wish for you that it didn’t have to happen that way.
This is sad. I don't remember any other president placing a wedge among families. I long for the time when politics were boring.
McConnell is really a POS. He's a nasty man.
Trump has made pardoned so many scumbags, we created this free app to help track of them.
Who did Trump pardon? Check this app!
App: https://trump-pardons-clsm.glide.page/dl/67d0c8
Blog: https://thedemlabs.org/2025/11/10/trump-pardons-app/
Trump pardons big drug dealers while Hegseth blows up tiny alleged drug boats: Follow the hypocrisy.
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/12/11/trump-pardons-big-drug-dealers-while-hegseth-blows-up-tiny-alleged-drug-boats-hypocrisy/
Who’s Trump protecting by hiding the Epstein files? Follow the money to Putin, Netanyahu, MBS and Peter Thiel with this relationship map.
https://thedemlabs.org/2025/12/20/trump-protection-racket-hides-epstein-files/
The transgressions committed here by Trump are too onerous, too numerous and way too toxic to forgive or overlook. He and the support system that created him, nurtured him along the way and now manage him will not go away will not give up their fortunes are their power. Take this the right way but it may be time to bring back “the guillotine”.
The short-fingered vulgarian, with all his dirty pardons, still has quite a way to go, before he beats Andrew Johnson. On the other hand, he does have three more years.
I was astounded when I did a quick search in the number 13,000 came up for the number of people who Johnson pardoned after the Civil War. WOW.
Much of the separation and trouble we have today, can be laid directly at Andrew Johnson's feet. Nothing to be done about it now, but I believe it is a fact that should be known by all. He gave a blanket pardon to traitors, because he was a sympathizer, and that didn't change when he became President.
also the union army was pulled out of the south too early
I’m more perturbed by Trump murdering drug smugglers extrajudicially because his justifications can / will be used to extrajudicially kill US citizens “trafficking / selling / using” drugs domestically … as well as killing others he calls “the enemy within” or “domestic terrorists.”
BUT AS TO MAXWELL — Trump won’t have to pardon her. She is challenging her conviction in court. Trump can just tell the DOJ / Bondi NOT TO OPPOSE HER petitions, appeals, and release from prison. AND WHEN SHE SUES THE U.S. for “malicious prosecution,”. Trump can tell the DOJ to settle the case for millions of $$$. [Though Trump will claim that he didn’t tell, order or influence the DOJ.]
This is what you get when you vote for a criminal … and he takes control over the US justice system. But I’m sure that the millions of people who voted for him never think about THAT.
Trump is now trying to dismantle NCAR, the National Cemter for Atmospheric Research. This entity gives warning for hurricanes, floods, high-velocity winds, and more. They share their data all over the world. I believe he is doing this as a negotiating strategy to force Colorado Governor J Polis to release Tina Peters from state prison where she belongs after interfering in elections. He can pardon federal crimes, but not state crimes.
Yep, extortion, just like a mob boss.