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How Much Is Trump Making Selling Pardons? – The Wednesday AM Quickie 10/21/26

By Corey Pein —

Late breaking: Israeli forces this morning detained New York Democratic House nominee Brad Lander, who was traveling with a group. He was "released under caution." Election interference? - Corey

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THE BIG NEWS

Billionaire Banker Buys Pardon from Trump Lawyers 

The going rate for a presidential pardon has gone up in Donald Trump second term. The New York Times reports on the case of Julio Herrera Velutini, a "billionaire banker from a prominent Venezuelan family" who got a sweet deal from prosecutors last year. Faced with felony bribery charges in the United States over a regulatory investigation in Puerto Rico, he pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor campaign finance violation. It surely helped that Herrera's lawyer, Christopher Kise, was a member of Donald Trump's personal legal team.

But Herrera didn't like having a criminal record. So he sought an appeal from the court of Trump. His daughter donated $3.5 million to a Trump super PAC. That apparently wasn't enough to secure a pardon. Then he hired another of Trump's former personal lawyers, Alina Habba, for a deal guaranteeing her a whopping $50 million dollars over four years. Habba, who had an office in the Justice Department, was to be general counsel at a shell company Herrera incorporated in Florida. Weeks after she accepted the arrangement, Trump granted Herrera "a full and unconditional pardon."

Habba, who now goes by her husband's family name, Mildon, denies wrongdoing. "Any insinuation that my employment — all of which has been vetted and disclosed to the DOJ — had anything to do with securing a pardon is false," she says. The White House also denies she was involved in securing Herrera's pardon. Of course they do. Bribery is illegal. It would be stupid to admit to a crime, although Trump himself does it all the time.

There's one question the Times doesn't answer, and which probably cannot be answered without a proper investigation by Congress or the criminal justice system: What was Trump's cut of the $50 million?

Elections Roundup: MIchigan GOP's Mike Rogers Paid Big Bucks By Firm Tied to Foreign Oligarchs

  • Trump Finally Opens the Spending Spigot at His Super PAC While Donald Trump pledged to spend $400 million to aid Republican candidates by Election Day, New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg pledged $80 million to Democratic candidates. via the New York Times, Politico, and the Guardian.
  • 'Despicable': Republican Ad in Ohio Governor's Race Features Democratic Candidate Amy Acton's Estranged Mother Calling Her a Liar What the 60-second ad doesn't mention is that Acton was molested by her stepfather, and her mother took his side. via the New York Times, NBC News, and the Toledo Blade.
  • Senate Democrats Drop $1.2 Million Into Mississippi to Boost the Party's Nominee, Scott Colom "The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has shifted two Southern Senate races to the left, moving South Carolina to 'lean Republican' from 'likely Republican' and Mississippi to 'likely Republican' from 'solid Republican.'" via the Associated Press and the Washington Post.
  • Texas Early Voting Turnout Breaks Records While Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton both rallied in Fort Worth, Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders was in Houston on his "Fighting Oligarchy" tour. via the New York Times, the Texas Tribune, the Washington Post, and the Houston Chronicle.
  • Bribes, You Mean: Trump Promises 'More Goodies' to Gullible GOP Voters The latest tenuous promise is an $8 billion bailout for farmers who've suffered thanks to the economic shock of the Iran war. via NBC News, the Wall Street Journal, and Politico.
  • Child Care and Rent Costs Weigh Heavily on the Electorate While Trump keeps insisting that America is in a "golden age," Vice Bootlicker JD Vance tells voters "we're working on it" – it meaning high gas prices. via the AP, In These Times, and Axios.
  • Poll Shows 7 in 10 Americans Doubt Trump Will Accept Election Results if Republicans Lose Meanwhile, a group including "about 10 current and former officials with experience in the Defense Department" have been "advising state governments and congressional lawmakers on how to prepare for the possibility that the Trump [regime] will attempt to interfere in November's midterm elections." via Common Dreams, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times.
  • Indiana Democratic County Council Candidate Jaime West Admits She Has Three Beers Before Going on TV But Refuses to Take Back What She Said About Republicans "I have every right to be angry and so does every American." via HuffPost, TMZ, and MR.

QUICKEST QUICKIES

  • Zelenskyy Says US Has Resumed Sharing Intelligence with Ukraine "Trump is a mercurial guy," cautions John Herbst, a former ambassador to Ukraine under George W. Bush. "He can wake up tomorrow morning, decide he's done enough on this, and he might start to lean back in the other direction." via the Washington Post, the Associated Press, Politico, and The American Prospect.
  • Corrupt Terms of Trump Regime's Oil Deal with Venezuela Revealed "One of the most criticized aspects of [Donald Trump's secret deal] has been his choice of a partner: Alejandro Betancourt, a globe-trotting Venezuelan oligarch who has faced money-laundering investigations in three countries." via ProPublica, Reuters, and Responsible Statecraft.
  • Trump Wants to Turn the White House Press Briefing Room Into a Swimming Pool Meanwhile, CNN threatened to return to court to regain access to Air Force One, where a Trump-ordered ban on the network "has prevented it from completing its duties for the rotational television pool," depriving the public of basic information about the activities of its elected leader. via the New York Times, the Washington Post, and HuffPost.
  • Democrats Plan Multiple Investigations of Elon Musk If and When They Retake the House Specific areas of scrutiny "include Musk's whirlwind stint as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, his companies' multibillion-dollar contracts with the federal government and — most recently — his possible role in throttling crucial internet access to the Ukrainian military as the White House seeks to pressure President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into cutting a peace deal with Russia." via Politico, the AP, and the Wall Street Journal.

SOME NUMBER

18 percent

That's how much the countries of the world need to cut carbon emissions over the next four years to avoid "endangering life across swathes of the globe" due to climate change impacts, according to a new United Nations report. The report faults the United States as "the major exception" to the trend of industrialized nations cutting their fossil fuel emissions, to which a White House spokesperson responded by ranting about "the woke Green Energy Scam."

ON THE SHOW TODAY

10/21: Sam will be hosting solo. His guests will be Dave Regan, President of SEIU-Untied Healthcare Workers West and one of the architects of California's Prop 40, which would impose a one-time 5 percent tax on billionaires; and Danial Nichanian, editor-in-chief of Bolts Magazine, discussing the important races in the upcoming midterms. 

DON'T MISS MR CLIPS‌

Dem Rips CNN Host's Idiotic Question to Shreds

I was not familiar with the New England "shut up."

Dr. El-Sayed Shuts Down GOP Operative Trying to Hijack Town Hall

"Tommy’s father is Timmy Teepell"—what nightmare children's book did these people spring from?

PARTING WORDS

"Bismillah, c’est les ténèbres."

-- That's the sardonic nonsense French protest slogan that roughly translates to "in the name of god, it's the darkness," which many young protesters believe was coined by an undercover cop in a private room used by organizers. "No young person talks like that," Sabrine Kharbach, a French student union spokesperson, tells the New York Times. "Young people have reclaimed this phrase to point out that attempts to monitor and infiltrate their movements do not go unnoticed, and to assert their ability to organize in spite of them." French authorities are vowing a "massive" police response to protests planned for Saturday, and the far right is attempting to seize on the unrest to make electoral gains. Meanwhile, youth protests have spread to Italy.

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