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Luisa Vieira

EXCLUSIVE GZERO Poll: Americans broadly support Presidential pardons

Earlier this month, outgoing US President Joe Bidenissued the largest sweep of clemency in America’s modern history, reducing the prison sentences of some 1,500 people and vacating the convictions entirely for several dozen more. On the surface, it seems strange for a democracy to give its president the power of the pardon, a relic of the earliest English monarchies. So we teamed up with Echelon Insights to learn how ordinary Americans see the issue.

As it happens, 89% of respondents said they were in favor of pardon powers, with about half “strongly” supporting. Just 12%, meanwhile, said they strongly oppose. It seems that Americans broadly like the idea of the president holding the power to address miscarriages of justice. But when it comes to specifics, views are different. Biden’s controversial decision to pardon his sonHunter Bidenwas supported by just 2 in 10 Americans.

Trump's last 4 weeks in office: vetoed coronavirus relief bill, controversial pardons
Trump Vetoes COVID Bill & Issues Controversial Pardons | US Politics In :60 | GZERO Media

Trump's last 4 weeks in office: vetoed coronavirus relief bill, controversial pardons

Watch Jon Lieber, who leads Eurasia Group's coverage of political and policy developments in Washington, lend perspective to the big developments in Trump's final weeks in office:

What's going on with the coronavirus relief bill? Will Trump really not sign it?

It's possible. This week he did veto the National Defense Authorization Act, suggesting that he's willing to break some china on his way out the door. And Trump is demanding now that Congress do much more generous stimulus checks to individual American households. That probably can't pass either the House or the Senate because Republicans don't support it. But now Trump is aligned with the Democrats and he's threatening to take down this massive spending bill in order to get what he wants. A little bit of drama around Christmas time. We'll see what happens.

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Trump's chances of proving election interference are over
Trump's Chances of Proving Election Interference Are Over | US Politics :60 | GZERO Media

Trump's chances of proving election interference are over

Jon Lieber, who leads Eurasia Group's coverage of political and policy developments in Washington, offers insights on US politics:

Is Trump out of options now that William Barr said the DOJ found no election interference?

Trump's problem isn't William Barr not finding election interference, it's that he lost the election and he lost it by millions of votes, and he lost it in the most important key states by tens of thousands of votes. Now, this was a very close election. The three closest states, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Arizona, Trump only lost by 44,000 votes so far, and if he'd ended up winning those three, we'd have an Electoral College tie. But the election was not close enough that Trump's strategy of trying to kick this to the courts and then getting it to go all the way to the Congress, with an alternate slate of electors, it just wasn't possible. Had the election been a little closer, he might've had a shot. But as it is, his chances are over. Joe Biden's going to be inaugurated on January 20th.

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