“Pardon me” can mean two different things.
It can mean “excuse me,” if you get in somebody’s way, or it can be a request from a convicted felon to receive a pardon from a governor, or from somebody at a higher level….
More than likely, Donald Trump’s Fixer-in-Chief, lawyer Michael Cohen, will be going to federal prison this year or next.
But Trump has frequently used his pardon power as a gift for his political allies.
First, it was disgraced Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a birther, among other things, who was convicted of contempt of federal court.
Scooter Libby was Chief of Staff for Dick Cheney, who was Bush Two’s VP, and, in that capacity, he was part of the outing of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame, and he was sentenced to prison for that, but Bush commuted his sentence. Last month, Trump gave Libby a full pardon.
And today, Trump pardoned by tweet (how else?) conservative filmmaker, activist and convicted felon Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to using a “straw donor” to make an illegal campaign contribution. Today, Trump gave D’Souza a full pardon.
And he's seriously thinking about pardoning former Illinois governor Rod “Blago” Blagojevich, who did his best to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat. As a result, Blago has been luxuriating in a federal prison in Colorado.
And then, probably, Martha Stewart.
In today’s Times, in an article well worth reading, Peter Baker and Eileen Sullivan write about Trump’s fondness for issuing pardons to allies and celebrities. They even talk about the prospect of a pardon for Cohen.
Moments ago, associate solitary reporter Susanna Sherman visited Cohen in his office, where he and his numerous lawyers are poring over the materials seized by the FBI.
“Susanna, I’m glad to see you, because you can tell everybody that I have no worries in the world. Why? My client is sure to pardon me as soon as I ask him to do that.”
In other news, former House Speaker John Boehner said that the Republican Party is now the Trump Party, Smart guy, he (https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/31/politics/john-boehner-republican-party/index.html).