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Original article:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/02/ivanka-trump-pardons
The Hive IVANKA TRUMP THINKS HER “POLITICAL REEMERGENCE” IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER The former first daughter is hoping to parlay her work securing pardons for white-collar criminals into a major comeback. Ivanka Trump at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on April 28, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California.BY MICHAEL KOVAC/GETTY IMAGES. When Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner took jobs in their father/father-in-law’s administration, they reportedly struck an unintentionally hilarious agreement between themselves that if the opportunity arose in the future, they wouldn‘t argue over which one of them would run for president—she’d be the one to do it. That they weren‘t remotely qualified to even work in the White House, let alone run the country, was clearly a thought that never entered either of their heads, despite all the vast open space in there; instead, they were apparently already considering campaign slogans and potential running mates and the extremely important question of whether or not Ivanka would enter the Capitol for her inauguration perched on a daybed carried by a quartet of shirtless men, Cleopatra-style. Fast-forward four years and the idea of Ivanka holding any higher office whatsoever seems even more ridiculous than it did in 2016, in light of the whole violent insurrection she basically encouraged. And yet! The former first daughter apparently still believes she has a bright political future, and that people would agree if only they knew about all of the good work she allegedly did securing pardons for the poor and downtrodden from her father. For instance, over at Axios, sources familiar with the matter would like it to be known that during Trump’s final days in office, Ivanka “attended multiple Oval Office meetings and made calls from empty offices in the West Wing” about potential pardons and commutations, news of which she likely believes will be key to her “political reemergence.” Not only that but the night before Joe Biden’s inauguration, she stayed at the White House until roughly 8:30 p.m.—which is almost 9, which is practically 10, which is basically an all-nighter—“wrangl[ing] over controversial eleventh-hour pardons.” And then, after having burned the midnight oil, she spent the drive over to Joint Base Andrews the next day, where Trump gave his farewell speech, calling families of those she’d advocated for. Who were the lucky individuals that Ivanka worked so tirelessly to obtain justice? In addition to a couple people who had been imprisoned for nonviolent drug offenses, she apparently went to bat for, among others: a woman convicted of “money laundering, bank and wire fraud and other financial crimes” and a guy convicted of stealing $43 million from victims of a telemarketing scam. And that‘s not all! According to a new report from The Washington Post, another representative recipient of clemency was Paul Erickson, a Republican operative who pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering after scamming dozens of people out of $5.3 million, and who a judge told during his sentencing last summer: “What comes through is that you’re a thief, and you’ve betrayed your friends, your family, pretty much everyone you know.” Erickson received just one of the 144 clemency grants Trump issued during his final hours in office, thanks, per the Post, to “a process marked by unprecedented favoritism and a rush by well-paid lobbyists.” The Post also notes that while White House counsel Pat Cipollone “officially ran [that] process…Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner served as key gatekeepers.” In other words, Princess Purses and her husband played a major role deciding who did and did not receive pardons or commutations, which led to the “sidelin[ing] of low-level offenders who had waited years after filing petitions through the Justice Department and elevated those with personal connections to the White House—or the money to pay someone with those connections.” In its statement granting clemency to Erickson, the White House wrote that he was “charged with a minor financial crime,” which came as news to his victims. “Minor to who?” Susan Holden, a college classmate of Erickson’s who he duped, asked the Post. Referring to his pardon, Lisa Coll Nicolaou, a New Jersey teacher and one of Erickson’s victims, said: “I was completely blindsided.” (Erickson had convinced Coll Nicolaou to invest in a fraudulent medical-device company after connecting with her at their 25th college reunion.) Other people on the receiving end of a Trump pardon or commutation included Philip Esformes, an ex-nursing home executive convicted of one of the biggest Medicare frauds in U.S. history, and Judith Negron, who’d been convicted in a separate scam to steal millions from Medicare and who not only had her sentence cut short but told she didn’t need to pay back her share of $87 million in court-ordered restitution. Meanwhile, Luke Scarmazzo, who was seeking commutation for a 22-year sentence for selling marijuana was one of a number of people left off of Trump’s list after having been told he would be freed. “It’s like a sick joke, because we were so excited,” said Scarmazzo’s brother, Nick. Texas-based Trump donor Doug Deason, who had urged the commutations of hundreds of long sentences for nonviolent drug offenses told the Post that in the wake of the Capitol attack, the White House appeared “distracted,” and ultimately, “everyone was disappointed” when the majority of the final pardons went to wealthy and connected white-collar criminals while leaving low-level offenders off the list. “I don’t know what happened to many of the names,” he said. Anyway, Ivanka thinks all of this reflects extremely well on her and hopes she can count on your vote! The House gave final approval on Friday to a budget blueprint that included President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, advancing it over unanimous Republican opposition as Democrats pressed forward with plans to begin drafting the aid package next week and speed it through the House by the end of the month. “Our work to crush the coronavirus and deliver relief to the American people is urgent and of the highest priority,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote in a letter to Democrats shortly before the bill passed by a 219-to-209 margin. Hours earlier, as the sun rose over the Capitol dome, the Senate approved a fast-track budget measure, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting her first-ever tiebreaking vote after a grinding all-night session. The move, in theory, allows them to enact the package without any Republican votes. This will of course lead to a thousand cries from the GOP that Biden was lying when he called for “unity” during his inauguration speech, arguments that will conveniently leave out Republicans’ decisions to block any and all Democratic initiatives while they were in power and/or their decision to defend a lawmaker who endorsed shooting Pelosi in the head. Surprise: The GOP that passed a trillion-dollar tax cut now cares about the deficit Who could have predicted this, aside from everyone? If it did catch you by surprise, here’s a handy guide to how all this works: Republicans only pretend to care about deficits when there’s a Democrat in the White House, at which point they claim any spending whatsoever—particularly the kind that could help low-and-middle-income Americans—is going to bankrupt the nations’s grandchildren’s grandchildren’s grandchildren. When one of their own is in power, and they’re lustily eyeing tax cuts? Deficits, shmeficits. Anyway, Mitch McConnell, extremely predictably, had this to say on Thursday, of Biden’s relief proposal: “The American people deserve for the conversation about next steps to begin with them and their needs. Not partisan rush jobs. Not talking points. It will not serve Americans to pile another huge mountain of debt on our grandkids for policies that even liberal economists say are poorly targeted to current needs.” And Biden had this to say in response to Republicans’ talking points: “All of the sudden, many [Republicans] have rediscovered fiscal restraint and the concern for the deficits. But don’t kid yourself. This approach will come with a cost: more pain, for more people, for longer than it has to be.” Report: Misogynistic dating coach had a side gig as a Capitol rioter Meet Brad Holiday, a.k.a. Samuel Fisher, terrible person by day, equally terrible person by night and on days off from work: According to The New York Times, Fisher was held without bail and had not entered a plea as of Thursday; in one of his online videos about a week after the riot, he touched on his attitudes about women and Democrats, asking: “Is Satanism a good thing? Should we conjure demons to get our goals met like the Left does? Are women trustworthy in 2020? You tell me; I’ll tell you no.” Marjorie Taylor Greene is extremely contrite about the behavior that led to losing her committee assignments ------------------------------------- WATCH Lilly Singh Takes A Lie Detector Test Elsewhere!
UNDEFINED SLIDES BY ERIKA HARWOOD The Hive © 2021 Condé Nast. All rights reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Your California Privacy Rights. Vanity Fair may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. Ad Choices If you would like to receive the Levin Report in your inbox daily, click here to subscribe. Republicans think Americans should sit tight a little longer before getting pandemic relief Luckily for Americans, Republicans aren’t in charge anymore. Per The New York Times:
BY BESS LEVIN
| FEBRUARY 5, 2021 The text being discussed is available at | https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/02/ivanka-trump-pardons and |