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Just explain Marc Rich.
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Okay Ken. First, look at this photo:
That's Marc Rich's ex-wife Denise. Not a bad looking lady if I do say so myself. Let's go back to 1999-2000: Her incredibly wealthy husband has been in exile overseas avoiding a trial over tax evasion, I think. (His lawyer, Scooter Libby, could not get the charges dropped.) Denise, like most women, thinks Bill Clinton is an exciting and powerful man (women think power is sexy) and she knows damn-well that Bill Clinton is a 10th-degree horn dog. She wants her ex to come back to the U.S. and she probably wants his assets released from government control (ex-wife + frozen assets = desperate measures). Okay, so she befriends President Horndog, probably wearing a similarly-revealing dress as we see above, and Bill's salivary glands (and other glands) go wild. They begin having clandestine meetings and pretty soon her tongue is in Bill's ear and one of her hands is you-know-where. BINGO! "Yes, yes, YESSS!!! I will PARDON YOUR HUSBAND!!!! JUST KEEP DOING WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!!"
Sorry, but as I said, power politics is sometimes a messy process when viewed too closely.
Okay, so Bill's on his way out in January 2001 and he does what all presidents do: he pardons his friends and the friends of his powerful friends. He also pardons anyone who might have been indicted and/or convicted of a crime during his administration, basically to shut them up and stop their prosecution cases from becoming messy public spectacles. In Marc Rich's case, it was probably the promise of a huge financial donation to Clinton's library construction fund and to the DNC. Oh, and that fun thing Denise did with her tongue when they were together. (Quid pro quo.) Denise Rich, as with so many women who got all tangled up with Mr. Horndog, knew how to get to Bill. I'm not defending him, I'm just pointing out how women knew how to get things from Bill. (Hurts go good!)
Okay, that's my guess at what was at play (at "play") with Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich. By the way, even Democrats were plugging their noses at the stench stirred up by the Rich pardon so the disgust was bi-partisan.
Okay, now please explain why President Nixon was pardoned by President Ford. Here's my guess: "Hey Gerry, I'll make you VP and then I'll resign if you then pardon me once you are president. Deal?" "Yes Mr. President, you have a deal." Ford knew he could never be elected on his own so he smartly jumped at the chance to become president through Nixon's resignation. Purely political opportunism. Naturally, they all denied the quid pro quo (Al Haig was the go-between, by the way) because the truth would have caused a national outrage. Nixon skipped town free from any further prosecution and Gerry Ford got to be president for two years.