Pardon Moi is the hot new reality show
Can you determine which is fact, fake or conspiracy theory? This crib sheet could help.
Fact:
Fact: Mo Brooks asked for pardons for himself and all 147 GOP lawmakers who voted not to support the presidential voting results after the violent insurrection mob stormed the Capitol Building. His request came in a January 11th letter. Up for re-election, he was defeated in the Alabama primary several days ago.
Fact: Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, a businessman and former National Guard Brigadier General, has vehemently denied ever asking for a pardon, calling the allegation "an absolute, shameless, and soulless lie."
Fact: Perry tried to get an unqualified Justice Department lawyer - Jeff Clark - appointed as attorney general so he would send a letter to Georgia and other states that would claim the Justice Department had "identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election." The acting Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General and others explained to Trump that this would cause a mass resignation of most top officials in the Justice Department with hundreds of resignations within 72 hours. Trump was convinced and nixed the effort to force the Justice Department to act as his advocate instead of continuing to serve as the public’s advocate.
Perry was invited to speak to the January 6th committee but declined to do so, asserting the committee was illegitimate.
Fact: The Wikipedia profile for Louis Gohmert, a lawyer and former state judge from Texas, includes this snippet:
In December 2020, Gohmert signed an amicus brief before the United States Supreme Court in Texas v. Pennsylvania, et al., which sought to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election results.[27] Later that month, he and several other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in federal district court against Vice President Mike Pence, seeking to overturn parts of the federal Electoral Count Act and prevent electoral votes for Joe Biden from being counted in Congress.[28]
Gohmert was one of the 147 members of Congress to vote to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election in Congress on January 7, 2021, the day after the storming of the US Capitol.[29]
In June 2022, Gohmert said, "if you're a Republican, you can't even lie to Congress or lie to an FBI agent or they're coming after you", in response to the indictment of Trump adviser Peter Navarro for non-compliance with the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.
Fact: all the aforementioned Gohmert court efforts were rejected by the courts. And it’s illegal for anyone to lie to the FBI.
Gohmert also adamantly denied requesting a pardon for himself.
Andy Biggs of Arizona - another lawyer - has denied ever asking for a pardon.
Fact: Biggs has voted against every covid relief and stimulus bill, questioned the hospitalization numbers, doesn’t believe humans accelerate climate change and was one of only 11 to vote against the 9-11 Victims Compensation Fund.
Fact from AP News:
Biggs and Gosar discussed the approaching Jan. 6 date as "The Alamo" or "D-Day" in a December 2020 broadcast of conservative commentator Sean Hannity's radio show.
Before the riot, Ali Alexander, organizer of the "Stop the Steal" rallies, named them, along with Brooks, as the most important members in pushing that effort forward.
Biggs has maintained he had no involvement with Alexander.
Alexander has said in court papers that he personally discussed the matter with Biggs.
Fact: Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia was sworn into office on January 3rd, 2020. She requested a pardon several days after the mob violence occurred.
Wikipedia’s profile of her is shocking:
Greene has promoted far-right, white supremacist, and antisemitic conspiracy theories including the white genocide conspiracy theory,[6][7] QAnon, and Pizzagate,[8][9] as well as other disproven conspiracy theories such as false flag mass shootings, the Clinton body count, and multiple relating to 9/11.[10][11] Before running for Congress, she advocated for executing prominent Democratic politicians.[12] As a congresswoman, she equated the Democratic Party with Nazis[13][14] and compared COVID-19 safety measures to the persecution of Jews during the Holocaust.[15] She apologized for the latter comparison.[16] In January 2022, Greene's personal Twitter account was permanently suspended for posting COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.[17] During the Russo-Ukrainian War, Greene has promoted Russian propaganda and praised Vladimir Putin.[18]
A supporter of Trump's efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, Greene has repeatedly and falsely claimed that Trump won the election in a landslide victory that was stolen from him.[19] She called for Georgia's election results to be decertified[20] and was among a group of Republican legislators who unsuccessfully challenged votes for Biden during the Electoral College vote count, even though federal agencies and courts overseeing the election found no evidence of electoral fraud.[21] Greene filed articles of impeachment against Biden the day after his inauguration, alleging abuse of power.[22][23]
The House of Representatives voted to remove Greene from all committee roles on February 4, 2021, in response to her incendiary statements and endorsements of political violence. Eleven Republicans joined the unanimous Democrats in the vote.
She recently defended speaking at a white supremacy convention by suggesting she can convert them and has been giving moral lectures to Democrats about promiscuity even though she used to sleep with customers at the gym she owns before reconciling with her husband. She’s been fined at least $48,000 for refusing to wear a mask at least 20 times in the Capitol building.
She was evading questions from the press yesterday when they asked if she’d requested a pardon.
Matt Gaetz, a lawyer from Florida, has long been one of Trump’s biggest cheerleaders mooks pimps with a flair for the overly dramatic, a common trait of alcoholics. Before going further about Rep. Gaetz, it’s important to see who’s accusing this sextet of pardon begging.
Fact: An executive assistant to Trump’s chief of staff described most of these pardon requests. She previously had interned with Steve Scalise and Ted Cruz. Cassidy Hutchinson fielded the requests and passed them on to Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
She specified that Perry, Gohmert, Biggs, Gaetz had expressed interest in pardons. She also testified that she’d heard that Gaetz expressed a desire for a broader pardon, not just limited to Trump’s battle to steal the election from the voting majority of the United States.
Per MSN News: She said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked for updates on whether the White House was offering pardons.
Hutchinson also noted that Patrick Philbin, the deputy counsel to the president, told her that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) asked for a pardon.
John McEntee, the former director of the White House presidential personnel office, also testified that Gaetz told him to ask Meadows for a pardon.
Fact: Mr. Gaetz even invoked the pardoned former President Richard M. Nixon as he did so, Eric Herschmann, a White House lawyer for Mr. Trump, testified.
“He mentioned Nixon, and I said, ‘Nixon’s pardon was never nearly that broad,’” Mr. Herschmann recounted.
So the executive assistant to the White House Chief of Staff, Trump’s personnel director and one of Trump’s attorneys makes three who have specifically talked about Gaetz.
You can see most of the allegations made in this video, if you wish to.
Though some of this had leaked out before Thursday’s public hearing, yesterday more of the dots were being connected. And the public response was entertaining to say the least.
Law professor Laurence Tribe tweeted a potential explanation of why the pardons weren’t granted.
One comedian zeroed in on Gaetz.
Classy clown Randy Rainbow went another direction.
I’d remind you that the most investigated woman in US history always showed up when requested or subpoenaed, never claimed executive privilege, never took the 5th Amendment and never asked for a pardon.
And yet, I have more. We haven’t begun to discuss my conspiracy theory. Hint: it does include Gaetz. And it’s way more fun than the now known details of this confederacy of dummkopfs.
But this newsletter’s long enough, so look for Part Two.