Whom Trump Should Pardon

Over the past weeks, calls have become louder for Trump to use the opportunity of the end of his first (and perhaps only) term to issue pardons to some of the victims of the US ‘justice’ system. The president has the power to pardon almost anyone for almost anything. Section 2 of Article II of the US Constitution states that the President “shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.” 

So far, Trump has issued some 29 pardons over the course of his presidency. The one that has arguably attracted the most attention by the press is the famous women’s right activist Susan B. Anthony, who died in 1909. Apart from her, Trump has lifted sentences for offences that have ranged from drug possession and distribution, through ‘obstruction of justice’ or falsifying tax returns, to murder. Many of these sentences are dated, where the perpetrators have already spent a long time behind bars. He has also pardoned some of his allies and associates.

Trump’s pardon record has not been significant or extraordinary in any way so far. However, he could use this power at this point to make a reputation for himself as a fighter for those persecuted and downtrodden by the US government’s criminal conduct. This would undoubtedly increase his popular support considerably as well as anger some of the worst people in US politics.

Where should, then, Trump start?

Ross Ulbricht

The creator of the darknet market website Silk Road became famous for receiving an incredible sentence of double life plus 40 years, without the possibility of parole.

From 2011 until 2013, Silk Road became perhaps the largest marketplace for grey-market and black-market goods. Among others, it became famous for the sale of illegal drugs. Offering a venue better connecting reliable producers to consumers in the context of the ongoing war on drugs, providing users access to a cleaner and safer way to obtain drugs than on the street - among others through the proliferation of quality certificates. Often-traded items also included, for example, potentially life-saving drugs locally unavailable due to restrictive regulation. ‘Anything involuntary that could harm a third party’ was prohibited on Silk Road.

In 2013, Ulbricht’s identity was discovered by the DEA and he was arrested the following year. He was charged with money laundering, conspiracy to commit computer hacking, and conspiracy to traffic narcotics. He was convicted on all those counts.

Ulbricht’s sentence is even more egregious considering two key circumstances: he was a first-time offender, and all the charges he was convicted of were non-violent. Since his arrest, he has spent more than 7 years behind bars.

Edward Snowden

The famous whistleblower and former CIA employee made his name by making public records of how the NSA spies on virtually everyone in the world through often illegal mass-surveillance practices. Having released hundreds of thousands of secret documents related to the operation of US ‘deep-state’ agencies to a then-Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, he became the number one enemy of the state overnight.

For his own security, Snowden escaped from the US - first to Hong Kong, from where the first releases were made, and then to Russia, where he sought asylum after his US passport was cancelled. His applications for asylum being rejected by numerous Western countries, he eventually stayed in Russia, where his temporary residency permit has been extended multiple times.

His place of residence made it possible for him to be accused of being a Russian spy. He was charged with theft of government property and breaches of the Espionage Act by making secret US government information public. Snowden defended himself by saying that as the law is written, it does not even allow him to defend himself. He claims he’s not allowed to make the case that what he did was right and the information he made available was essential for the public to know. 

Julian Assange

The founder of WikiLeaks has provided a platform for the exposure of numerous scandals and crimes committed by various US government agencies. Documenting, for example, civilian deaths and secret alliances in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, it still holds the most extensive collection of leaks containing important information on the excesses of governments all over the world. 

The US then investigated WikiLeaks and Assange under the Espionage Act. It was alleged that Assange had conspired with Chelsea Manning to unlawfully publish classified information. Despite Assange’s claims that WikiLeaks had no way of knowing the identities of their sources, he was put on the “2010 Manhunting Timeline” by the US government. However, it was not until the Trump administration had come in that then-CIA director Mike Pompeo and Attorney General Jeff Session escalated the US case further.

Assange became subject of sexual assault allegations in Sweden, which were widely viewed as designed to discredit the WikiLeaks editor-in-chief and undermine his credibility. While his request for political asylum was being considered, Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. There, he ended up spending more than seven years in what was essentially a house arrest. In 2019 he was allowed to be arrested by the London Metropolitan Police and was later sentenced to 50 weeks in a UK prison. There, he has been subjected to ‘torture and medical neglect’. He is currently set to be extradited to the US.

Although Chelsea Manning is now out of prison, she is still facing significant fallout effects. To help with these difficulties, she should be officially pardoned a posteriori alongside Assange.

Cody Wilson

Defense Distributed is a company providing open-source blueprints for 3D-printed arms, the so-called ‘wiki weapons’. While setting up the project, Wilson did make sure to follow legal procedures and he was issued the Federal Firearms License to manufacture and sell arms.

In 2018, Wilson was accused of paying an underage girl for sex amid suspicious circumstances. Perhaps as in Assange’s case, the target could have been Wilson’s credibility and public opinion of him. Not willing to risk spending decades in prison, Wilson first fled to Thailand, from where he was deported back to the US. He took a plea deal and was sentenced to 7 years of probation, being registered as a sex offender, community service, and a fine. As is evident and happens frequently in the US legal system, his ‘admission’ of guilt in hopes of avoiding even a small chance of a draconian punishment cannot be taken as credible. Wilson maintained his innocence throughout.

All Non-Violent Drug Offenders

The war on drugs is a set of policies with one of the worst track records imaginable. As has already been reported by Lotuseaters.com, drug prohibition is at best ineffective and at worst counterproductive and deeply destructive. At their worst, these policies treat people’s medical issues as criminal issues, expose users to dangerous conditions, increase crime tied to drug use, condemn people to a life in hiding, violate basic human rights to bodily integrity, and even create a space for criminal gangs and networks, often extraordinarily savage and violent. All this for supposed benefits which have, by and large, not materialized since the current approach was adopted. Although vast resources and effort have been put into the ‘war on drugs’, drug usage and proliferation have remained remarkably stable, while the side-effects have been horrific.

The war on drugs is an abomination and an ugly stain on the ‘justice’ system. It has no place in a fair and reasonable society. For now, as it remains on the books until legislative changes are finally made, Trump should at least issue a blanket pardon for all non-violent drug offenders, as none of them did anything wrong besides disobeying ridiculous and tyrannical commands.

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Saving Lives with a Stroke of a Pen

This is not, by any chance, an exhaustive list. It would surely be a wonderful start for Trump to issue pardons in the high-profile cases listed in this article. But a president can do much more. Every day, there are many pleas for clemency that reach his or her desk. With a ‘justice’ system which often keeps a considerable distance from actual justice, the power of pardon should be used generously to help at least some of its victims. Complaints about equality miss the point - it is better for five people to be unjustly imprisoned than for six. If that one out of those six can be spared such a fate, that is fantastic news. All Trump has to do is reach out his hand and save a life or two anytime he wants through the amazing superpower of his signature.