Scarborough blasts Trump pardons, says ‘political hacks’ and ‘co-conspirators’ will be next

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough is blasting President Trump’s Tuesday pardons and commutations, saying that the president will pardon his own “political hacks” and “co-conspirators” next.

Scarborough, a former GOP congressman, attacked the president following his pardons or commuted sentences for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevic (D), former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, financier Michael Milken and former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo, Jr. 

Trump pardons war criminals and convicts to normalize the coming pardons of his political hacks and co-conspirators.

— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) February 18, 2020

The president is receiving bipartisan backlash for granting the individuals clemency, particularly for the highest-profile figure, Blagojevich, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption charges. The former governor was convicted for attempting to extort a children’s hospital and to sell President Obama’s Senate seat when he went to the White House.

Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Illinois’s Republican congressional delegation have been among those criticizing Trump for granting clemency to the former governor. 

Kerik pleaded guilty to tax fraud in 2009, while Milken was convicted on six counts of securities and tax violations in 1990. DeBartolo had admitted to failing to report he was extorted by a former Louisiana governor in 1998.