Jack Smith Drops Trump Charges - Trump AG Pick's Views on Speech Rights (It's Not Good) - Biden Pardons Turkeys
The Daily Walk Through for November 25, 2024
Welcome to The Daily Walk Through for Nov. 25, 2024!
What's on everyone's minds tonight? Probably not politics — it's Thanksgiving week, after all, which means we're just trying to make it through to Turkey Day. That said, a lot of important things happened today that you should know about…
Jack Smith Drops All Charges Against Trump
After Trump won the presidential election, it became clear that his criminal charges would be dropped, due to a DOJ standard against charging sitting presidents. And as expected, special counsel Jack Smith filed a motion on Monday to drop all charges against him — in both of Trump's federal cases (his trying to overturn the 2020 election and his hoarding of classified documents). Later in the day, a judge agreed to drop the charges.
Trump communications director Steven Cheung released this statement:
“The American People re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate to Make America Great Again. Today’s decision by the DOJ ends the unconstitutional federal cases against President Trump, and is a major victory for the rule of law. The American People and President Trump want an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and we look forward to uniting our country.”
Former Labor Secretary-turned-political-commentator Robert Reich called the move "a hell of a mistake," adding that Smith should have forced Trump to end the cases himself — not do his work for him.
"Let Trump do that, so all the world can see him seek to avoid accountability for what he has done. And let Trump’s Justice Department — which will likely be headed by former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi — ask the federal judges involved in the two cases to dismiss them, so all the world can see Trump’s Justice Department acting as Trump’s handmaiden. Smith should have put the responsibility for avoiding the rule of law squarely on Trump."
Trump's AG Pick Is Anti-Free Speech
After the fail that was the nomination by Trump of former Congressman Matt Gaetz to become attorney general, the president-elect has nominated Pam Bondi for the role. Bondi has one better attribute than Gaetz, in that she has previously been an AG for the state of Florida — other than that, she's an ardent Trump loyalist, likely to carry out his bidding in going after his political enemies through the Justice Department.
Oh, and she stole a dog, apparently.
Bondi is worrisome for another reason: She once called for student protesters to be deported for protesting against the government of Israel's mass killings of Palestinians living in Gaza.
Not just deport students who have legal residency statuses, mind you, but ANY student, even those who ARE U.S. citizens. Talk about fascist.
Said Bondi at the time:
"Frankly they need to be taken out of our country, or the FBI needs to be interviewing them right away."
So much for the First Amendment…
Coincidentally, Trump said the same thing on the campaign trail in May.
Biden Pardons Turkeys at WH Event — Breaks Promise on Ending Federal Death Penalty (Dems Call on Him to Do Something NOW)
President Joe Biden tapped into his presidential pardon power in the waning days of his tenure Monday, granting clemency to a pair of lucky turkeys and kicking off the holiday season.
“Based on their temperament and commitment to being productive members of society, I hereby pardon Peach and Blossom,” Biden said in a ceremony on the White House South Lawn.
That's all good-and-well, and it's White House tradition. But this year, it hits pretty hard — Biden campaigned in 2020 on ending the death penalty, and all four years of his presidency, he never acted on that.
Now, with just a handful of weeks left in office, dozens of Democrats in Congress are calling on Biden to grant clemency to thousands currently incarcerated, serving unjust sentences or waiting for a death sentence on death row. We'll see what happens…
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