Tag: blackwater
Donald Trump

Trump’s Abuse Of Pardon Power Reveals That He’s Just A Crime Boss

Reprinted with permission from DCReport

The 41 pardons Donald Trump granted last week drew a lot of attention, but few seemed to notice the message Trump sent by not pardoning some.

Trump's choices made clear he is a crime boss.

Four Blackwater mercenaries who, working for Trump ally Erik Prince murdered Iraqi civilians, were pardoned. But there was no pardon for Jeremy Ridgeway, the soldier-for-hire who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, testified against the others and was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison.

Roger Stone, dirty trickster confidant; former General Michael Flynn, national security adviser who was on the Kremlin payroll; and 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort were pardoned. But Trump didn't pardon Manafort deputy Rick Gates, who turned state's evidence and confessed.

Earlier, Trump pardoned Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor convicted of trying to sell a Senate seat. But there was no pardon for lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump's longtime fixer who confessed to committing felonies at the direction of unindicted co-conspirator "Individual 1," identified in federal court as Trump.

In true mobster fashion, Trump once referred to Cohen as a "rat" for confessing. He praised Manafort for not "flipping" to testify against him.

A future president could use the pardon power to protect elaborate criminal schemes, to subvert the Bill of Rights, to frame political opponents and even to direct political murders.

The names of those pardoned, and sometimes the names of those not pardoned, have appeared in news reports and opinion columns, but there was no connecting the dots to show the pattern and its meaning. The pattern reveals a crystal clear message to lawyers for those considering ratting out Trump or already working with authorities to rein in the Trump crime family:

The boss takes care of friends and allies if they lie for the boss or keep silent, but does nothing for those who cooperate with law enforcement.

Given Trump's many attacks on the FBI and other law enforcement, this should surprise no one, especially journalists. Yet my fellow journalists didn't point this out.

Missing The Story

How is it that none of our major news organizations figured this out? Hint: They rely too much on the official version of events, official announcements, and access instead of thinking and exercising reportorial authority.They are afraid they will be seen as biased or tendentious.

If Trump declared the sun rises in the West, many news organizations would avoid reporting that as false, crazy, or nonsense. Some would focus on how the sun only appears to rise, never mind that it appears to rise in the East.

The pardons issued so far raise grave questions about the future of our democracy. The actions have received less comment than outrage over the brazen abuse of the pardon power, especially as part of a scheme to obstruct justice.

Think about what will happen if someone as lawless as Trump ever again becomes president. Imagine a president with much more skill, smarts, and vigor, and one with better lawyers. A future president could use the pardon power to protect elaborate criminal schemes, to subvert the Bill of Rights, to frame political opponents, and even direct political murders so long as they were committed in federal jurisdictions. The presidential pardon, remember, applies only to federal crimes.

Trump behaved last week exactly as any crime boss would act if he could exercise the powers of the American presidency:

Show mercy to criminals, especially criminals who have aided your crimes or whose supporters may be useful to you in the future, but do nothing for those who did the right thing once they were caught and helped bring others to justice.

Trump Helped Cocaine Trafficker Buddy

This is exactly what Trump, as a private citizen, did in a series of extraordinary favors for a major international cocaine and marijuana trafficker with whom he had extensive, close business ties.

In that case, Trump sought mercy for three-time felon Joseph Weichselbaum. The trafficker managed and piloted Trump's helicopter in the 1980s, supplied Trump with a fleet of helicopters to ferry high rollers to Atlantic City, and rented a luxury Manhattan apartment from Trump under a lease that obscured rent costs.

In a 1986 letter to the sentencing judge, Trump called Weichselbaum "a credit to the community." Trump wrote Weichselbaum should serve no prison time for a long-running scheme in which 20-year sentences went to the mules—people who drove cars and vans loaded with drugs from Miami to Cincinnati.

Carefully read, Trump's letter was really directed not at the judge, but at Weichselbaum.

Trump's clear message to his buddy: Don't rat me out and I'll take care of you.

Cocaine trafficker Weichselbaum spent just 18 months in a Manhattan prison. He paid only a token sum on his $30,000 federal fine because he said he was broke. Yet, he moved from prison to a $2.4 million double apartment at Trump Tower. The Trump Organization also gave him a new job—as Trump's helicopter consultant.

Now is the time to demand that Congress act to protect us from a future lawless president so the pardon power cannot be a balm to criminal pals and an ax to eviscerate our liberties and our control of our government.

President Donald Trump in Oval Office

Former FBI Investigator Of Blackwater Massacre Explains Why Pardons Were So Wrong

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Just as his critics had been predicting, President Donald Trump granted a long list of pardons and commutations this week — from his 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort to former Rep. Duncan D. Hunter of California to Charles Kushner (father of White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner) to four former Blackwater security guards. Some of the sharp criticism that Trump has received for the Blackwater pardons has been coming from people in national security or law enforcement, and former FBI special agent Thomas O'Connor slams those pardons in an op-ed published on CNN's website on Christmas Eve Day.

The four security guards, who worked for the private security firm Blackwater during the George W. Bush era, were serving time in prison for their involvement in the slaughter of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square on September 16, 2007. Former Blackwater CEO Erik Prince is a far-right Trump supporter and the brother of Betsy DeVos, secretary of education in the outgoing Trump Administration.

O'Connor, who spent 23 years as an FBI special agent before retiring in 2019, explains, "I know that these men were undeserving of pardons because I was a member of the FBI evidence response team that traveled to Iraq and investigated the site of these killings."

O'Connor goes on to describe the events that occurred in Baghdad 13 years ago during Bush's second term as president.

"On September 16, 2007, Baghdad, Iraq was a dangerous place," the former FBI special agent recalls. "No one will dispute that fact. On that day, a bombing took place a few miles from a busy traffic circle called Al Nisour Square, which is used by Iraqis to access major roadways across Baghdad. A security detail from the private government contractor Blackwater was protecting a U.S. official attending a meeting at a government building when the bomb was detonated."

O'Connor notes that "the Blackwater Raven 23 defendants claimed that they responded to gunfire aimed at them while stopping traffic in Nisour Square that day." But after an "FBI team made four trips to Iraq to investigate this shooting," O'Connor writes, the evidence "was introduced into several U.S. court hearings.

"A jury heard the evidence and found four Blackwater guards guilty of murder, manslaughter and weapons charges," O'Connor notes. "The system worked, and justice was brought to the deceased, the injured victims and their families. The families of those killed and wounded at Nisour Square will now watch those responsible for this tragedy go free thanks to a pardon by the president of the United States. This simply makes me sad and angry."

O'Connor wraps up his op-ed by emphasizing that the four Blackwater guards were not acting in self-defense in Nisour Square.

"There is no forensic evidence of anyone shooting at the Blackwater team," according to O'Connor. "How do I know? The evidence told me that."

Blackwater Lobbyist Will Manage The House Intelligence Committee

Blackwater Lobbyist Will Manage The House Intelligence Committee

by Lee Fang, Republic Report.

After lobbyist-run SuperPACs and big money efforts dominated the last election, legislators are now appointing lobbyists to literally manage the day-to-day affairs of Congress. For the House Intelligence Committee, which oversees government intelligence operations and agencies, the changing of the guard means a lobbyist for Academi, the defense contractor formerly known as Blackwater, is now in charge.

Congressman Devin Nunes (R-CA), the incoming chairman of the Intelligence Committee when the House reconvenes in January, announced that Jeff Shockey will be the new Staff Director of the committee. As a paid representative of Academi, Shockey and his firm have earned $80,000 this year peddling influence on behalf of Academi.

In previous years, the House Intelligence Committee has investigated Blackwater over secret contracts with the Central Intelligence Agency. Now, the shoe is on the other foot. As Staff Director, the highest position on a committee for a staff member, Shockey will oversee the agencies that do business with his former employer.

Shockey also represents a number of other companies with business before defense agencies: General Dynamics, Koch Industries, Northrop Grumman, United Launch Alliance, Innovative Defense Technologies and Boeing.

The role reversal, for lobbyists to take brief stints in Congress after an election, has become a normalized. In a previous investigation for The Nation, we found that some corporate firms offer employment contracts with special bonuses for their staff to return to government jobs, ensuring the paycut they receive for passing through the revolving door to become public servants doesn’t have to alter their K Street lifestyle.

Other committees are also hiring lobbyists. Congessman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) replacement as chair of the Oversight Committee, just hired Podesta Group lobbyist Sean McLaughlin as his new Staff Director. McLaughlin’s client list includes the Business Roundtable, a trade association for corporate CEOs of large firms. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) also hired a new chief of staff, Mark Isakowitz, who represents BP.

This article originally appeared on Republic Report.

Photo: Public Citizen via Flickr

Jury Convicts Blackwater Guards In Iraq Killing, But Appeals Expected

Jury Convicts Blackwater Guards In Iraq Killing, But Appeals Expected

By Timothy M. Phelps and Matt Hansen, Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — A federal jury Wednesday convicted four former Blackwater security guards who had been charged with killing 14 Iraqis in Baghdad seven years ago in a shooting that became a symbol of U.S. treatment of Iraqi civilians.

After nearly 30 days of deliberation, the jury in found Nicholas Slatten guilty of first-degree murder, while three other guards — Paul Slough, Evan Liberty, and Dustin Heard — were found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

Prosecutors flew dozens of Iraqi witnesses to Washington to testify about scenes of graphic violence, including the father of a 9-year-old boy who said he watched his son’s brains fall out at his feet.

Prosecutors said the shootings, in which 37 people were killed or injured, were unprovoked, the result of trigger-happy civilian security guards nervous about intelligence reports that a white Kia carrying a car bomb was circulating in the city looking for a target.

The defense, which put on only four witnesses, said the killings were a tragic mistake that started when unknown Iraqis opened fire on a Blackwater convoy.

The verdict comes at a delicate time for the Obama administration, just as the U.S. is helping the new Iraqi government fight Islamic State militants. It was the insistence by the previous Iraqi government that Americans accused of crimes within the country be tried in Iraqi courts that led Obama to pull U.S. troops out in 2011.

“This verdict is a resounding affirmation of the commitment of the American people to the rule of law, even in times of war,” U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen, whose office led the prosecution, said in a statement.

Jurors reached guilty verdicts on nearly all of the combined 33 counts. Judge Royce C. Lamberth declared a mistrial on three remaining charges of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter for Heard.

Slatten could face life imprisonment, while the remaining three defendants face 30-year mandatory minimum sentences, according to prosecutors.

The four men remained impassive and motionless as the verdicts were read. Lamberth asked them to remain seated during the lengthy recitation.

Defense attorneys vowed to appeal the verdicts, saying they believed the government had erred in trying the men under the auspices of the Department of Defense, because they were not contractors with that department while working in Iraq. As Blackwater contractors, they provided security to State Department officials in the country.

“This was a long and complicated trial that raised a lot of issues with the jury that will be raised in a motion for a new trial,” David Schertler, the attorney who represented Heard, said.

The men will remain in custody despite defense attorneys’ objections that they posed no flight risk. In some cases, the defendants had even returned from trips overseas to attend the trial, attorneys noted.

Some lawmakers praised the verdict, saying it demonstrated that the federal government needed to do a better job of holding its contractors accountable.

“It should not have taken this long for justice to be served,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said in a statement.

Leahy has proposed legislation that would allow U.S. contractors to be more easily prosecuted for crimes they commit overseas.

AFP Photo/Ahmad al-Rubaye

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