Day 1,125: Wannabe king Trump declares himself nation’s ‘chief law enforcement officer’

Donald Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of 11 people Tuesday. Despite claiming he would “drain the swamp,” many of those he gave reprieve to ooze “swamp,” either directly or through their connections to get their pardons or commutations.

Bernard Kerik

Kerik, the former New York Police Department commissioner who was hailed alongside then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the response to the 9/11 attacks, was sentenced to four years in prison after he pleaded guilty to felony charges of tax fraud and lying to White House officials while being interviewed to head the Department of Homeland Security. He served three years in federal prison before he was released in 2013.

Michael Milken

Milken, a rogue financier known as the “junk bond king,” pleaded guilty in 1990 to several counts of securities and tax violations. In the announcement of his pardon, the White House described Milken as “one of America’s greatest financiers” and credited his work fighting prostate cancer.

Rod Blagojevich

The former Illinois governor was serving a 14-year prison sentence on federal charges that he used his powers as governor to extract campaign money and other favors from potential contenders for the Illinois Senate seat left open when Barack Obama became president. Trump had previously asserted that Blagojevich, a Democrat who appeared as a guest on the president’s television program “Celebrity Apprentice,” was treated “very, very unfairly.”

Judith Negron

Negron, the owner of a Miami-area mental health company, was sentenced in 2011 to 35 years in prison for orchestrating a $205 million Medicare fraud scheme. She has served eight years of her sentence.

Trump, defended his decisions in an authoritarian way.

“I’m allowed to be totally involved,” he told reporters as he left Washington on Tuesday for a trip to California, Nevada and Arizona. “I’m actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country. But I’ve chosen not to be involved.”

And while Trump has the power to issue pardons or commutations for federal crimes, how and why he’s doing it leaves many questioning his reasoning.

Since Senate Republicans voted to acquit Trump at his impeachment trial two weeks ago, despite many openly acknowledging his wrong-doing, Trump tried to extort the State of New York in exchange for a personal favor. Now he is declaring himself the U.S.’s “chief law enforcement officer,” which is definitely not true.

In actuality, the attorney general is the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, but Trump has continued to stomp all over that position and all the norms that traditionally come with separating politics and justice.

Trump will not be content until he has every power within the federal government. All the while, as they have for three years, Republicans in Congress continue to ignore these authoritarian power grabs.

1,125 days in, 337 to go

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