The ex-lawyer of Donald Trump's former fixer turned vehement enemy Michael Cohen made a surprise request Wednesday — that Trump be pardoned.
Writing for the conservative Real Clear Politics, attorney Lanny Davis began by comparing Trump to Hunter Biden, who was just convicted of lying to purchase a gun.
Biden's crime, Davis argued, "Occurred in the middle of his addiction. It was not part of any planned criminal scheme."
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The opposite was the case for Trump, however. A New York jury found that Trump was involved in a broad conspiracy to conceal a payoff to a woman to keep quiet about sexual relationship that he feared would damage his election chances.
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But Davis thinks both men should be pardoned.
"I was once angry with Gerald Ford when he pardoned Richard Nixon for his Watergate crimes days after assuming the presidency in 1974," Davis confessed. "With the benefit of hindsight, I (and many leading historians) believe President Ford made the right decision."
Ford famously announced, "Our long national nightmare is over" as he handed Nixon the pardon.
Davis thinks that Ford knew the country would never "heal" so long as Nixon was the subject of criminal prosecution.
Gallup polling showed in 1974 that about 38 percent of Americans supported Nixon's pardon. The decision was so toxic that after taking over the presidency, Ford never had a chance at successfully running again, even with a number of successes under his belt, Gallup explained in a retrospect.
But Davis argues, "Incarcerating Trump would undermine that message by making him a martyr to his followers."
So, he wrote begging Biden to "show grace" to the ex-president "by announcing his support for a pardon and commutation for his opponent by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul."
For the son of President Joe Biden, the message from his family has been consistent: "We believe in the rule of law."
But Davis went on to say that he hopes Trump would grant Hunter Biden the same grace, "Were he to win in November."
He argued that in "announcing his support for a Trump pardon, Joe Biden will also be upholding another fundamental principle: that the most important decision in our Republic — the election of the president of the United States — should be decided at the ballot box and not in a courtroom."
