BY RAUL HERNANDEZ
Checkmate, or Season Four of the Trumpanos….
Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort may soon face New York state criminal charges, it was reported on Friday. Although Manafort has already been convicted of multiple federal crimes, Trump’s pardon power is null and void in state courts.
The prosecutorial hammer of state authorities is in a good position to get Roger Stone’s lips moving about what he knows about the Trump Organized Crime Family.
A Trump presidential pardon for Stone’s silence will be as worthless as a three-day-old newspaper.
There is a strong possibility that the DA’s office or the NYC attorney general will punch Stone’s ticket and indict him if Trump pardons him in exchange for keeping his mouth shut.
I am sure attorneys general in other states will be combing through Mueller’s fat report to see if there are crimes with Trump’s fingerprints that were committed in their states, especially in California.
California has a long memory involving Trump’s transgressions, and most recently, Donald had a hissy fit and is trying to derail the state’s bullet train.
So, it appears that none of the players in Trump’s crime family will escape justice via Trump pardons.
Meanwhile, sobriety for Roger will soon set in if it hasn’t already.
In addition, Mueller’s indictment will soon land on the White House’s steps.
So Roger also will get the scared-straight version of the possibility of spending his last years on the planet in prison and leaving there in a box.
Prison, they say, is a brutal world full of tough guys who will not stomach Stone’s political sideshows or be his adoring right-wing audience who appreciate his cute antics outside a federal courthouse.
Stone is also one word-away from being thrown in jail by a federal judge who just neutered, put a muzzle around his mouth and put him on a short leash.
No doubt that the Manhattan DA’s move on Manafort will make Stone seriously reconsider a plea agreement in exchange for a light sentence.
It also might, however, take a few lawyers and a pocket calculator to help Stone do the jailhouse-liability math.
Trump’s gamesmanship to outfox federal authorities by raining down the possibility of pardons (wink, wink) to silence Stone and other co-defendants just ran into a brick wall — the prosecutors in the office of the Manhattan District Attorney.
Trump has no pardon power in state court. He is toast.
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Trump and Democratic Voters
Trump’s voters have been attracted the message of bigotry, fear and lies. Democrats live in the Land of the Easily Offended and are attracted to candidates with the biggest shopping carts.
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