A Donald Trump surrogate got shut down when he argued that the New York hush money cover-up convictions could be overturned by President Joe Biden.
Vivek Ramaswamy, rumored to be a potential vice presidential pick for Trump, made the argument on Saturday.
"Can Trump be pardoned by the President for the conviction in NY? Answer: YES," the failed presidential candidate wrote over the weekend. "Here’s why: the New York felony charges directly relied on claims that Trump violated federal law."
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Ramaswamy goes on to argue that "New York prosecuted Trump based on the novel legal theory that he committed a misdemeanor (falsifying business records) 'with the intent to commit' another crime, including violations of federal campaign finance law."
"That means if the alleged federal violation is expunged, the state felony conviction disappears along with it," he claimed. "It’s shocking how far the MSM has gone in the last 24 hours to hide this fact by expressly writing headlines that a pardon is impossible."
Sarah Isgur, a former Trump administration official, chimed in immediately:
"Nope. Nope. Nope. Nothing about this argument is legally or constitutionally sound," the attorney said in response.
Conservative Army Iraq War Veteran Peter Henlein also weighed in on the argument.
"Lol, Vivek is out here telling MAGA the President can pardon someone convicted by the state of New York. Vivek knows his explanation is complete nonsense," Henlein said Saturday. "Vivek knows he is lying. That doesn’t matter to him. Growing his brand is what matters to him."
University of Texas law professor Lee Kovarsky said the argument '''is so incandescently stupid, and its incandescent stupidity reflects REALLY poorly on the Wall Street Journal's ed board's decision to publish."
"I bet you a lot of money you that there is not a *single* crim scholar that endorses this dumbass idea," the expert added. "The way it actually works is that you'd get the pardon for the first jurisdiction and then see if you could get the second jurisdiction to vacate the conviction. Clemency power isn't cross-jurisdictional. But hey, just listen to Vivek, he went to Harvard or something."