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President Bush Rescinds Pardon
A Blog For All —
Yesterday, President Bush issued 19 pardons, including one to Isaac R. Toussie. President Bush rescinded the pardon to Toussie, claiming that since yesterday additional information came to light that forced a change of plans : With respect to the case of Mr. Isaac R. Toussie, the Counsel to the President reviewed the application and believed, based on the information known to him at the time, that it was a meritorious application. He so advised the President, who accepted the recommendation. Based on information that has subsequently come to light, the President has directed ...
Not Sure That Flies
Talking Points Memo —
... , after it emerged that Toussie's father had contributed almost $30,000 to the Republican party. Pardons are absolutely. They can't be reviewed or reconsidered, even by the president who issued them. According to the White House press release, President Bush had sent a "Master Warrant of Clemency" with 19 names to the Pardon Attorney at DOJ to execute. But he hadn't executed it yet. So President Bush is now telling him not to execute it. ...
Pardon Update (Updated)
Discourse.net —
... Enter the statement of the press secretary, introducing the notion that the pardon had not been executed. But the statement doesn’t hold up. ...
What Role Did Bradford Berenson Have In Bush’s Pardongate?
Think Progress —
... – Also, Toussie had not qualified for a pardon per Justice Department guidelines because it had not yet been five years since the completion of his sentence. ...
No More Mister Nice Blog — ... Pardons are absolute. They can't be reviewed or reconsidered or overturned, even by the president who issued them. According to the White House press release, President Bush had sent a "Master Warrant of Clemency" with 19 names to the Pardon Attorney at DOJ to execute. But he hadn't executed it yet. In other words, the White House is claiming none of these folks had actually been pardoned yet. So the president can just send word now not to 'execute' that one pardon. ...
Tad More on Pardons
Talking Points Memo —
... As you know, President Bush took the close to unprecedented step of revoking one of his own pardons yesterday. In fact, from what I can tell, it may actually be unprecedented, since the earlier cases appear to have been instances of revoking a predecessor's pardon. (In other words, this looks like the first revocation on the basis of a goof rather than a difference of policy or opinion.) That's what happened in 1869 when, three days into his presidency, President Grant cancelled two pardons his predecessor President Johnson had given. ...
No More Mister Nice Blog — ... I'll be curious to see what kind of conspiracy theories get thrown around regarding President Bush's weird attempt to reverse his own pardon of Isaas Toussie, as soon as the blogosphere starts lighting up when people start returning to their keyboards as holiday dinner recedes into the past and the ...
Not So Fast!
Talking Points Memo —
... First is the argument put forward by the White House itself, that the president had sent requests for pardons to the Pardon Attorney but that the Pardon Attorney had yet to "execute and deliver grants of clemency to the named individuals." According to the White House press release from Wednesday, the president got to him before he'd done that and "directed the Pardon Attorney not to execute and deliver a Grant of Clemency to Mr. Toussie." ...
Rove: Pardons And Commutations Are ‘Generally…Not Granted Within Five Years After The Offense’
Think Progress —
... by the pardon attorney because “it was filed less than five years from completion of his sentence” and Bush wanted the attorney to “have an opportunity to review this case before a decision on clemency is made.” ...
Bush Met Father Of Pardoned Housing Scammer A Second Time, White House Pleads Ignorance
Think Progress —
... , the White House insisted that neither White House Counsel Fred Fielding, nor Bush was aware that Toussie’s father was a significant Republican donor at the time of the pardon. White House spokesperson Tony Fratto ...
