Tag: trump pardons
Massive Conflict: Trump Enraged By Questions Over Pardon Of Binance Mogul

Massive Conflict: Trump Enraged By Questions Over Pardon Of Binance Mogul

Just after pardoning the founder of Binance, President Donald Trump struggled to explain his decision — appearing unfamiliar with both the recipient and the legal issues surrounding the case that led to his conviction.

“President Trump has pardoned Changpeng Zhao,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, “the convicted founder of the crypto exchange Binance, following months of efforts by Zhao to boost the Trump family’s own crypto company.”

Asked on Thursday why he chose to issue the pardon, and if it had anything to do with Zhao’s involvement with the Trump family’s crypto business, the President responded, “Who is that?”

“The founder of Binance,” the reporter replied.

“The recent one, yes,” Trump said. “I believe we’re talking about the same person, ’cause I do pardon a lot of people.”

“I don’t know — he was recommended by a lot of people,” Trump continued. “A lot of people say that — are you talking about the crypto person?”

“Yes.”

“A lot of people say that he wasn’t guilty of anything,” the President declared. “He served four months in jail, and they say that he was not guilty of anything, that what he did —” Trump said before the reporter interjected.

“Well,” Trump responded, “you don’t know much about crypto, you know nothing about, you know nothing about nothing. You’re fake news.”

“But let me just tell you that he was,” Trump said, “somebody that, as I was told, I don’t know him, I don’t believe I’ve ever met him. But I’ve been told, a lot of support. He had a lot of support, and they said that what he did is not even a crime.”

“It wasn’t a crime, that he was persecuted by the Biden administration, and so I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people.”

The Wall Street Journal also reported that a “pardon will likely pave the way for Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, to return to the U.S. after the company pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering requirements and was barred from operating in the country.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Tension Rises At Texas Prison Over 'Favorable Treatment' Of Epstein Enabler Maxwell

Tension Rises At Texas Prison Over 'Favorable Treatment' Of Epstein Enabler Maxwell

The transfer of convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell to the Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas has drawn criticism from fellow inmates, who say her presence is altering daily life in a facility known for its relaxed routine.

Maxwell, the former British socialite convicted in 2021 for her role in facilitating convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minors, is serving a 20‑year sentence.

She was moved this summer from a higher‑security prison in Florida to the minimum‑security camp in Bryan, a decision that generated widespread criticism.

The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that at Bryan, where inmates typically live in dormitory‑style quarters and enjoy relative freedom of movement, some prisoners say the adjustment to Maxwell’s presence has been disruptive. They report more frequent lockdowns and stricter security procedures.

According to the report, several inmates also claim Maxwell is receiving treatment not extended to others. Guards deliver meals to her room and a there is heightened focus on her personal safety.

"Maxwell’s unexpected arrival upset the camp’s usually relaxed atmosphere, leading to more frequent lockdowns, the addition of armed guards and other changes. Current and former inmates said in interviews that Maxwell appeared to receive unusually favorable treatment at times, sparking resentment from other inmates," the report noted.

One inmate described a mid‑August lockdown during which Maxwell was allowed to meet visitors in the prison chapel. The inmate recalled she returned to her unit smiling, and when asked about the meeting, “she said it had gone well.”

At the prison facility, housing arrangements are relatively informal. Cells can accommodate up to four individuals and typically lack doors, according to former inmates quoted in the report.

In one recent incident, a newly transferred prisoner entered Maxwell’s living area and complimented her hairstyle. Maxwell responded by asking her to leave, a request that reportedly escalated into a confrontation, per the report.

“She said she didn’t belong here,” recalled another inmate who witnessed the exchange.

The situation ended with the new arrival being removed by correctional staff and placed in a different dormitory.

In response to the incident, the prison’s warden addressed the inmate population in what was described as a “town meeting.”

During the gathering, the report said, she issued a warning: any threats made against Maxwell, efforts to harm her, or attempts to speak to media outlets about her could result in immediate transfer to a higher-security institution, according to individuals familiar with the meeting.

In July, the Department of Justice released a transcript of Maxwell’s conversation with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in which she said she had never “seen the president do anything improper or illegal.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet


Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein

Epstein Victim Recalled Him Introducing Her To Trump At Age 14

With the possibility looming of President Donald Trump pardoning convicted child predator and Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, testimony from her trial is standing out that sheds new light on the nature of Trump's friendship with Epstein.

In a Thursday article for the Daily Beast, special correspondent Michael Daly delved into testimony from Epstein victim "Jane," who was groomed by Maxwell and Epstein as a young teenager. Jane took the stand against Maxwell in her 2021 trial, and described how she was approached and eventually taken in by Epstein and his longtime girlfriend and partner in crime while she was at summer camp.

Jane, who had recently lost her father, was between seventh and eighth grade at a summer arts camp in Interlochen, Michigan in 1994 when she saw Maxwell walking a small dog. When Jane and her friends asked if they could pet the dog, "a man came and joined" Maxwell, who she later learned was Jeffrey Epstein. After a brief conversation in which Epstein mentioned owning the land where the camp was built and funding scholarships for kids, he invited the girl and her mother to his home in West Palm Beach, Florida, telling her that he knew her mother.

Jane went on to say in her testimony that Epstein would frequently "name-drop" multiple celebrity connections, including "Donald Trump, Bill Clinton [and] Mike Wallace," and continued inviting her to his home — but not her mother. She added that Epstein and Maxwell would "sometimes put people on speakerphones whose voices I didn’t know and then say, Oh, well, this was so-and-so and so-and-so; and just, you know, say that they were very well-connected and affluent.”

According to Jane, Epstein introduced her to Trump in December of 1994 at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. In a 2020 civil suit, Jane alleged that during the encounter, "Epstein elbowed Trump playfully asking him, referring to [Jane], ‘This is a good one, right?’ Trump smiled and nodded in agreement. They both chuckled and [Jane} felt uncomfortable, but, at the time, was too young to understand why."

The questions surrounding Trump and Epstein's relationship have prompted the president to shift his stories the more journalists press him on the issue. While Trump has maintained he kicked Epstein out of his club for "being a creep," he said earlier this week that he revoked his Mar-a-Lago membership after Epstein "stole" staff from him, including then-17 year-old Mar-a-Lago spa attendant Virginia Giuffre (an Epstein victim who died by suicide earlier this year at the age of 41).

Trump has so far not ruled out a pardon for Maxwell, who met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for two days at the federal prison in Florida where she is currently serving a 20-year sentence. Maxwell reportedly gave up information on roughly "100 people" during her interviews with Blanche.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

According to Jane, Epstein introduced her to Trump in December of 1994 at Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate. In a 2020 civil suit, Jane alleged that during the encounter, "Epstein elbowed Trump playfully asking him, referring to [Jane], ‘This is a good one, right?’ Trump smiled and nodded in agreement. They both chuckled and [Jane} felt uncomfortable, but, at the time, was too young to understand why."

The questions surrounding Trump and Epstein's relationship have prompted the president to shift his stories the more journalists press him on the issue. While Trump has maintained he kicked Epstein out of his club for "being a creep," he said earlier this week that he revoked his Mar-a-Lago membership after Epstein "stole" staff from him, including then-17 year-old Mar-a-Lago spa attendant Virginia Giuffre (an Epstein victim who died by suicide earlier this year at the age of 41).

Trump has so far not ruled out a pardon for Maxwell, who met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for two days at the federal prison in Florida where she is currently serving a 20-year sentence. Maxwell reportedly gave up information on roughly "100 people" during her interviews with Blanche.

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Click here to read Daly's full article in the Daily Beast (subscription required).

Report typos and corrections to: feedback@alternet.org.

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Video Shows Furious Roger Stone Calling Ivanka An 'Abortionist Bitch'

Video Shows Furious Roger Stone Calling Ivanka An 'Abortionist Bitch'

Longtime Trump ally and MAGA provocateur Roger Stone flew into a rage upon learning he wouldn’t be granted a post-2020-election pardon despite extensive lobbying efforts and unleashed a flurry of expletives at former President Trump’s family, newly released footage showed.

In the video — captured by the Danish film crew “The Ark” for its forthcoming documentary A Storm Foretold, and first published by The Daily Beast — Stone is seated in a moving vehicle, seething at the discovery that there would be no 11th-hour pardon to shield him from accountability for his role in the effort he helped lead to overturn Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.

“Jared Kushner has an IQ of 70,” Stone ranted on the phone on President Joe Biden’s inauguration day, when then-outgoing President Trump could no longer grant pardons. “He’s coming to Miami. We will eject him from Miami very quickly; he will be leaving very quickly,” Stone said through gritted teeth. “Very quickly.”

His anger rising rapidly, Stone segued into a threat of violence, warning, “He has 100 security guards. I will have 5,000 security guards. You want to fight. Let’s fight. Fuck you.”

The political “dirty trickster” ended his tirade with a jab at Ivanka Trump, saying, “Fuck you and your abortionist bitch daughter!”


The Beast noted it was unclear who Stone was speaking to on the phone, but the film crew’s boss, Christoffer Guldbrandsen, confirmed to the publication there was “no doubt” it was Ivanka that Stone had called an “abortionist bitch.”

Why Stone would refer to Ivanka — who, according to the HuffPost, “staunchly declared herself in a 2020 interview ‘pro-life, and unapologetically so.’ — is not yet clear; however, Guldbrandsen told the Beast that Stone blamed Kushner for his failed bid for a second pardon.

“Aside from Donald Trump, he also held Jared Kushner responsible as being the guy who was the point man on the pardon,” Guldbrandsen said, noting that the beleaguered agitator’s vulgar rant had taken place in Fort Lauderdale on January 20, 2021.

Stone, a self-proclaimed pro-life advocate, has had no misgivings in discussing violence, a trait prominent amongst the right-wing militias he’s allegedly affiliated with, most notably the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. (His first wife Elizabeth "Bitsy" Stone operated a "pro-choice Republican" nonprofit and PAC for many years in Washington, which he supported.)

“I say fuck the voting. Let’s get right to the violence. We'll have to start smashing pumpkins, if you know what I mean," Stone said in a video clip released by the House Select Committee on Thursday.

“Shoot to kill. See an Antifa? Shoot to kill. Fuck ’em. Done with this bullshit,” Stone said in a video clip CNN obtained from the film crew last month.

Previous reporting by the Washington Post showed that vowing violence against Kushner is something Stone has done more than once.

“In two weeks [Kushner’s] moving to Miami,” Stone told a staffer on Inauguration Day, the Post reported in March, citing over 20 hours of Stone documentary footage it had reviewed. “He’s going to get a beating. He needs to have a beating. And needs to be told, ‘This time we’re just beating you. Next time we’re killing you.’”

Moments later, Stone rejected the staffer’s urging to pass his threat off as a joke, saying, “No, no, it isn’t joking. Not joking. It’s not a joke.”

In a car with the filmmakers that same day, the Post noted, Stone continued outlining plans for Kushner’s demise; this time, on the phone with a friend named Tom.

“Stone said Kushner needed to be “punished in the most brutal possible way” and would be “brain dead when I get finished with him,” the Post wrote in its report.

Stone accused the Post of attacking him using “a clever blend of ‘guilt by association,’ insinuations, half truths, anonymous claims, falsehoods and out of context trick questions.”

Representatives for Ivanka and Kushner didn’t return the Beast’s request for comment.

Stone has levied personal attacks against Guldbrandsen and threatened to file a $25 million lawsuit against the filmmaker.

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