What Role Did Bradford Berenson Have In Bush’s Pardongate?
What Role Did Bradford Berenson Have In Bush’s Pardongate?
After first pardoning “a Brooklyn real estate developer accused of scamming hundreds of poor, minority homebuyers – and whose father donated $28,500 to the Republican Party this year,” the Bush White House moved quickly this afternoon to reverse course. Bush revoked the pardon for Isaac Toussie after the White House acknowledged that the Brooklyn housing scammer did not meet pardon guidelines.
Putting aside the fact that Bush decided it was fine to grant a pardon for a predatory mortgage lender in the midst of a recession, there were a number of other improprieties in the pardon of Toussie:
– First of all, it had been granted by Bush despite the fact that the Pardon Attorney, Ronald L. Rogers, had not given a formal recommendation for it.
– Also, Toussie had not qualified for a pardon per Justice Department guidelines because it had not yet been five years since the completion of his sentence.
– Furthermore, Toussie’s pardon came after his father, Robert, made his first political donation of $28,500 to the national Republican party in April.
Perhaps the most intriguing matter is the process by which the White House decided to issue the pardon. Toussie had hired Bradford Berenson, a former top lawyer in the White House counsel’s office from 2001-2003, to handle the case.
Berenson may have been responsible for persuading his former White House colleagues to bypass the normal procedures. It wouldn’t be the first time Berenson has acted in that manner. In Angler — an introspective book on Dick Cheney’s vice presidency — author Barton Gellman documents an earlier attempt by Berenson to pull a fast one.
In Nov. 2001, with Berenson’s assistance, Vice President Cheney hastily pushed a legal memo through the White House which ordered that all terrorism suspects in U.S. custody could be detained indefinitely without charge. Berenson skirted normal vetting procedures:
After leaving Bush’s private dining room, the vice president took no chances on a last-minute objection. He sent the order on a swift path to execution that left no sign of his role. After Addington and Flanigan, the text passed to Berenson, the associate White House counsel. Cheney’s link to the document broke there: Berenson was not told of its provenance.
Berenson rushed the order to deputy staff secretary Stuart W. Bowen Jr., bearing instructions to prepare it for signature immediately — without advance distribution to the president’s top advisers. Bowen objected, he told colleagues later, saying he had handled thousands of presidential documents without ever bypassing strict procedures of coordination and review. He relented, one White House official said, only after “rapid, urgent persuasion” that Bush was standing by to sign and that the order was too sensitive to delay.
In an interview, Berenson said it was his understanding that “someone had briefed” the president “and gone over it” already. He added: “I don’t know who that was.”
Today, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said she did not know of another instance of a pardon reversal in “recent memory,” but the White House couldn’t say for sure whether it had ever happened before.
The Toussie case isn’t over yet. “The president believes that the pardon attorney should have an opportunity to review this case before a decision on clemency is made,” Perino said. And that means Berenson will have an opportunity to continue to bill Toussie for another few weeks in an effort to secure an illegitimate pardon, again.
Berenson said in a statement that Toussie "is deeply grateful that both the Counsel to the President and the President himself found Mr. Toussie's pardon application to have sufficient merit to be granted," and suggested he remained optimistic about his chances. Berenson declined further comment.
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It’s going to take a SCOTUS ruling before anybody can talk with any authority about what’s legitimate or not regarding Presidential pardons. AFAIK, it’s an unlimited ability under the Constitution.
December 24th, 2008 at 10:42 pmAfter first pardoning “a Brooklyn real estate developer accused of scamming hundreds of poor, minority homebuyers – and whose father donated $28,500 to the Republican Party this year,” the Bush White House moved quickly this afternoon to reverse course. Bush revoked the pardon for Isaac Toussie
Kiss the tushie of every minority you scammed, Toussie.
December 24th, 2008 at 10:55 pmObama must move to enact an immediate impeachment of Bush and Cheney, or at the very least label them unfit to serve another minute as leaders of this nation. Obama has no courage like that…
http://www.sunstateactivist.org/ssablog/
December 24th, 2008 at 10:56 pmPretty gutsy thing for an anonamous poster in a blog to say about the first black president in America’s history.
Where do you get that kind of courage?
December 24th, 2008 at 11:18 pmTP, please tell us! What does Karl Rove think about this?
December 25th, 2008 at 12:06 amNo problem the pardon will be slipped in at the last minute and the Media will never report it. Look these are cronies who help with the scam in the mortgage as it was done to the poor and minorities. Look for Madoff to check out his possible pardon. Look the Jewish people have worked with Bush/Cheney in planning out the scams and illegal invasion long before Clinton took office. Laws can be broken for friends and we’ll see many more who helped in the pass 8 years get pardons.
December 25th, 2008 at 12:39 amAll neocons will receive blanket, unconditional pardons hours before Bush leaves office and heads for the hills in South America to join the Nazis who are still hiding out there spending the money Thomas Watson of IBM and Prescott Bush sent them during WWII.
December 25th, 2008 at 1:09 amFaiz & crew, and to my fellow TP commenters,
Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, happy day to all. Stay safe and warm in the company of your friends and family.
December 25th, 2008 at 2:09 amTo the Wonderful People at the Center for American Progress, and particularly the great staff at ThinkProgress, and to Everyone who visits here and/or posts here, I want to wish each of you a Joyous Holiday Season, and Best Wishes for the New Year.
December 25th, 2008 at 2:19 amThanks,Zooey. I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a hopeful and healthy New Year.
December 25th, 2008 at 2:21 amGeorge Bush cannot pardon Dick Cheney for anything Cheney did under Bush’s orders. The president does not have the constitutional authority to remove his own constitutional responsibilities. He is obligated to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. He cannot order someone to break the law (or violate the constitution, which they are all sworn to uphold) and then pardon that person afterwards, for that would be the exact opposite of taking care that the laws be faithfully executed.
But he can pardon Cheney for any crimes he committed on his own, without Bush’s knowledge. We may never know what they were, but we can still prosecute him for breaking the law under Bush’s orders.
December 25th, 2008 at 2:23 am#5: Good one.
#8: Ditto all around.
December 25th, 2008 at 2:57 amLet the crooks scramble around, pardon themselves and chortle…
KARMA will level the playing field.
R_B
December 25th, 2008 at 4:23 amone good thing about blanket pardons..this pretty much leaves the personally wholly unable to use the “i plead the 5th” argument, and also, it has no effect upon the viability of any civil suits, as these arent offenses “against the united states”
December 25th, 2008 at 4:57 amMessage from Boosh:
December 25th, 2008 at 11:47 amIt’s OK to rip off poor people as long as it doesn’t look like the thieves donated to the GOP.
Can you say Scooter Libby???
John Kerry, you are so pathetic, you can’t even punctuate a five-word sentence properly. How come you right-wingers who keep bringing up Marc Rich (indirectly) fail to mention Rich’s lawyer, Scooter Libby? Why doesn’t he get some of the credit/blame for Rich’s pardon?
It’s ironic that you usurp a war hero’s name to post your attacks because you’re too much of a coward to post under your own name.
(My name is Wayne A. Schneider and I approved this message.)
December 25th, 2008 at 11:49 amJohn Kerry Says:
You know, I really don’t like rhf’s use of the word retard but this troll demands it.
December 25th, 2008 at 11:57 amWhat? Is it hard to pronounce or something?
December 25th, 2008 at 1:01 pmJohn Kerry Says:
Can you say BILL CLINTON!!!
*
Can you say BILL CLINTON?
(fixed.)
:)
December 25th, 2008 at 2:10 pmThis lawyer knew this man was not pardon material. But he hoped no one notice if he snuck it through. And the money that was paid to the RNC nearly assured it.
If a fuss had not been made publicly it would have been done. These people give slime a bad name. Especially the lawyer. This administration front to back are the most unethical, sneaky, and corrupt in the world. And anything coming from anyone who has worked for Bush, should immediately come under suspicion.
December 25th, 2008 at 11:12 pm