Former Trump official regrets 'unseemly' pardons of cocaine traffickers, Trump's familyFormer White House official Marc Short said he regrets working in the Trump administration because the former president pardoned violent criminals and family members as he left office.
During Donald Trump's tenure, Short worked as the White House Director of Legislative Affairs and as the chief of staff to then-Vice President Mike Pence.
On Fox News Sunday, Short noted that Trump was not a lifelong Republican. He responded to Republican candidates who might consider pardoning Trump if they were to win the White House.
"And when it comes to pardons, you know, candidly, one of the most unseemly parts of the end of our administration was the pardons that Donald Trump gave to cocaine traffickers, to family members, to people guilty of violent crimes," Short lamented. "And so I think we have to have a real conversation. What would people actually do with the power of a pardon?"
"But I think if you look actually at even Donald Trump's record when it came to pardons, it was indefensible of people getting $750,000 to lobby us to try to gain a pardon," he added. "It's a meritorious question for all of us, how you'd handle a pardon and the power of it."
Watch: National security lawyer thinks Trump is too scared to have cameras show his trial
National security lawyer Bradly Moss doesn't think that former President Donald Trump wants any of his federal trial to be public. Typically there are no cameras in federal courts, and to get them would take a willingness from both sides to petition the Supreme Court.
MSNBC host Yasmin Vossoughian said that there is a lot of distrust in the justice system. Already, Republicans are demanding the firing of FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee, and Attorney General Merrick Garland. At the same time, the U.S. Supreme Court is at its lowest approval rating in history, in part, due to a lack of transparency. The Supreme Court has fought cameras in courts from the beginning.
Those on the left fear that a secret trial will give Republicans the opportunity to lie about what happens in court, but Moss thinks the right wants to keep everything quiet.
"I don't expect any excessive, and the extra transparency coming from Judge [Aileen] Cannon beyond what the standard rules in some, in southern Florida permit and require in that courthouse," Moss said. "The issue with the clearances isn't a necessary part of this. That was gonna be if they hadn't granted part of a pretrial discovery issue because of the classified information — they need to provide some measure of access. At least to the attorneys, if not Walt Nauta and Mr. Trump, as well as part of discovery, and procedures in place."
He said that cameras in the court, live tweeting, and other options don't sound like possibilities under Cannon.
The last time Cannon dealt with the case, she made rulings that were not only overturned, but her actions drew condemnation from the conservative Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court then refused to step in, appearing to agree with the lower appeals court. MSNBC's "Morning Joe" panel predicted last week that if she persists in such rulings, she will again be humiliated by higher courts. Senior Robert Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said that he doesn't see any indication of Cannon recusing herself. However, if there is a single misstep, it might give special counsel Jack Smith the opportunity to request her recusal from the appeals court.
"I know there's a media push for [cameras]. It would make it interesting," said Moss. "But people are looking for the second coming of OJ's trial, I don't think you're gonna see that in this case.
Vossoughian said that Republicans and Democrats outside of the Miami courthouse wanted to know what was happening not for the entertainment value but because of the historic significance and the accountability.
"You would think that given those obvious public interest factors, there would be greater transparency. We haven't seen it yet. The magistrate's pushback on some of the efforts to do that in the arraignment. We'll see what Judge Cannon does when it comes before on a separate motion by various organizations. I believe NBC News is one of them trying to open this up. But ironically, the person that doesn't want this to be live-streamed, cameras, and everything is going to be the criminal defendants, Mr. Trump, and Mr. Nauta. They don't want the public to be able to watch all that."
He explained that photos and audio mean that he can't control the message and convince Americans of a grand conspiracy against him. Showing the truth would reveal Trump's guilt.
"In color, with the audio, and all that because it would put it in a much greater effect than what a piece of paper does, what people don't tend to read in detail. Seeing it, nothing can compare to what we saw with the OJ trial, decades ago. And what that brought into Americans' homes. Doing that in this case, would be very damaging for the criminal defendants. Even if they potentially work out a hung jury in the end. Which would be their best hope. I don't think they want that level of transparency."
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