Presidential pardon or not Sheriff Arpaio's record will not be scrubbed clean.

Courtesy of Politico:  

A federal judge has ruled that President Donald Trump's pardon of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio ends his prosecution for criminal contempt of court, but does not wipe out the guilty verdict she returned or any other rulings in the case. 

In her order Thursday, Phoenix-based U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton rejected arguments from Arpaio's lawyers and Justice Department prosecutors that the longtime Maricopa County sheriff was entitled to have all rulings in the case vacated, including the guilty verdict the judge delivered in July after a five-day trial. 

“The power to pardon is an executive prerogative of mercy, not of judicial recordkeeping," Bolton wrote, quoting an appeals court ruling. "To vacate all rulings in this case would run afoul of this important distinction. The Court found Defendant guilty of criminal contempt. The President issued the pardon. Defendant accepted. The pardon undoubtedly spared Defendant from any punishment that might otherwise have been imposed. It did not, however, 'revise the historical facts' of this case."

Well good for his judge!

Arpaio is a racist POS and just because he has a fellow racist POS buddy in a high place does NOT mean he gets to pretend that he is not a criminal. 

Sheriff Joe Arpaio returns, and he is still looking for Obama's birth certificate.

Courtesy of Mercury News:  

Fresh off a presidential pardon, America’s most infamous lawman is coming to California this week as part of an effort to re-enter the political arena. 

“Don’t think I’m going fishing,” Joe Arpaio, the 85-year-old former Maricopa County sheriff, said in an interview with the Bay Area News Group. “I am not going away.” 

Arpaio, whose hard-line immigration policies divided the country and led to his own criminal conviction, is speaking at a Republican fundraising dinner in Fresno on Friday, an appearance that has local police bracing for protests and some GOP officials staying far away. 

“Sheriff Joe” was thrust back into the national spotlight last month when he received a pardon from President Donald Trump. He was convicted of contempt of court earlier this year, with a judge finding that he had violated court orders to stop detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in Arizona’s Maricopa County, which includes metro Phoenix. The pardon saved him from a possible sentence of six months in prison. 

In an interview on Tuesday afternoon, Arpaio, who lost re-election in November after 24 years in office, said the Fresno event was an example of his renewed “mission” to fight for conservative ideas around the country. That includes, he said, his continuing (and widely debunked) effort to prove that former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate is fake.

My father used to say that there are some people "too mean to die."

Whenever I think of Arpaio that quote comes to mind.

It's like at 85 years old it is only pure hate that keeps him ticking.

He is a vile POS so it is no surprise that Donald Trump went out of his way to rescue him from a prison sentence.

Your Saturday morning Russia collusion investigation update.

So the last new information I shared here about the Russia investigation had to do with a newly discovered email from yet another campaign aide trying to set up a meeting between the Russians and the Trump campaign.

That was a whole two day ago, and now there is even more.

Now there is reporting that Michael Flynn is being investigated for possibly working with operatives to get Clinton emails from the Russians.

Courtesy of the Business Insider:  

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators are looking into whether former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn took part in efforts to obtain emails deleted from Hillary Clinton's private email server from Russian hackers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. 

That 2016 effort was spearheaded by GOP donor and opposition researcher Peter Smith, who told the Journal in May that he lobbied several groups of hackers — two of which that may have included Russian operatives — in search of the roughly 33,000 emails. Smith killed himself days after the interview.

Smith bragged to people that he was communicating with Flynn so this is certainly not a wild goose chase.

Of course with him so conveniently no longer with us, it makes this investigation a little more challenging.

So odd how so many people around this investigation keep dying, don't you think?

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is also issuing grand jury subpoenas directed at folks who worked with Paul Manafort.

Courtesy of NBC News:  

Special Counsel Robert Mueller issued grand jury subpoenas in recent days seeking testimony from public relations executives who worked on an international campaign organized by Paul Manafort, people directly familiar with the matter told NBC News. 

This is the first public indication that Mueller's investigation is beginning to compel witness testimony before the grand jury — a significant milestone in an inquiry that is examining the conduct of President Donald Trump and his son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, among others.

It is also further indication that Manafort, Trump's onetime campaign chairman, could be in serious legal jeopardy.

Speaking of subpoenas there is now talk that Trump's pardon of Joe Apraio was a testing of the waters.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

The broader question raised by the pardon, then, is where Trump would draw the line. If he’s willing to pardon Joe Arpaio for ignoring a court order in service of a political goal Trump embraces, why wouldn’t he pardon another individual he respects for similarly ignoring a demand from the court. Say, a former employee or a family member who, say, was issued a subpoena to testify before a special prosecutor? 

One message from the Arpaio pardon is precisely that Trump sees his evaluation of the boundaries of legality as superior to the boundaries set by the legal system. The Constitution gives him that power. As we’ve noted before the presidential pardon is absolute. He can pardon anyone for any federal crime at any time — even before the person actually faces any charges and even if no crime actually took place. There’s nothing anyone can do about it, except to impeach Trump and remove him from office to prevent him from doing it again. (The president who replaces him might be able to revoke a recent pardon, one expert told us, but it’s far from certain.) 

In other words, if any of Trump’s allies decides to tell special counsel Robert Mueller to stick his subpoena in the south side of the National Mall, Mueller can press a court for contempt charges. The person could be convicted of those charges — and then get a pardon identical to Arpaio’s.

Trump does not have to fire Mueller in order to end the investigation. All he has to do is promise to protect those who refuse to cooperate.

And with this Arpaio pardon he has proved that he has the power to do exactly that. 

Trump attorney says that president is not talking about pardons, while at the same time his new spokesperson is saying he JUST had a conversation with Trump about pardons.

Courtesy of Red State: 

The president in that tweet stated something that is rather unremarkable, that is, under the Constitution, Article II, Section 2, the President has the authority to pardon. But, I want to be clear on this, George, we have not, and continue to have not, conversations with the President of the United States regarding pardons. Pardons have not been discussed and pardons are not on the table. With regard to the issue of a president pardoning himself, there’s a big academic discussion going on right now, an academic debate. You’ve got Professor Tribe arguing one point, you’ve got Professor Turley arguing another point, and while it makes for interesting academic discussions, let me tell you what the legal team is not doing. We’re not researching the issue, because the issue of pardons is not on the table. There is nothing to pardon from.

Well there you go then. This is all just made up fake news that is not backed up by any fac.......wait what just happened?

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked Scaramucci why Trump tweeted about his “complete power” to pardon last week if no crimes had been committed. 

“Why even talk about pardons?” Wallace wondered. 

“This is one of those things about Washington, the convolution and the nature of things,” Scaramucci explained. “I’m in the Oval Office with the president last week and we were talking about that, he says he brought that up, but he doesn’t have to be pardoned, there’s nobody around him that has to be pardoned. He was just making the statement about the power of the pardon.” 

“Now, all of the speculation and all of the spin is he’s going to pardon himself,” he added. “The president does not need to pardon himself. And the reason he doesn’t need to pardon himself is he hasn’t done anything wrong.”

Sooooo Mooch was in the Oval Office talking about the subject that his attorney swears has never come up?

Well good thing we got that cleared up.

By the way his Mooch guy seems to essentially see his job as similar to the job performed by the spokesman for the North Korean dictator.

there’s been a lot of lies from the White House but “trump is a phenomenal athlete” might take the cake pic.twitter.com/ru5YIfZvCi

— jordan 🌹🌹 (@JordanUhl) July 21, 2017

In other words his Trumpiness is perfect in every way, and any claims to the contrary are to be ignored as "fake news."

Oh this should be fun.

According to Twitter tirade Donald Trump is fairly convinced he can pardon ANYBODY caught up in this Russia probe. Even himself?

While all agree the U. S. President has the complete power to pardon, why think of that when only crime so far is LEAKS against us.FAKE NEWS

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2017

Actually we don't ALL agree. In fact legal experts are divided over this possiblity.

What they are less divided over however is that doing so would be a REALLY bad move on Trump's part.

Once he did that he would completely delegitimize his entire presidency and then it would only be a matter of time until he was impeached.

Of course this was only one of the bizarre, and arguably insane, tweets from this morning.

So many people are asking why isn't the A.G. or Special Council looking at the many Hillary Clinton or Comey crimes. 33,000 e-mails deleted?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2017

...What about all of the Clinton ties to Russia, including Podesta Company, Uranium deal, Russian Reset, big dollar speeches etc.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2017

Okay first off it's "Special Counsel" not "Special Council."

Second the Special Counsel was not appointed to investigate Hillary Clinton.

Third "so many people" clearly refers only to the voices in Trump's head.

And fourth, most of what is listed are just Right Wing conspiracy theories without any facts to back them up.

The Republican Senators must step up to the plate and, after 7 years, vote to Repeal and Replace. Next, Tax Reform and Infrastructure. WIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2017

ObamaCare is dead and the Democrats are obstructionists, no ideas or votes, only obstruction. It is solely up to the 52 Republican Senators!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2017

It is not Obamacare that is pushing up daisies, it's that horrendous GOP anti-health care bill.

Face it Donnie, you cannot grope this thing back to life.

Oh, and I would not hold out much hope for any tax reform bills either Cheeto Hitler.

Your brand is toxic!