Bush Revokes Pardon For NYC Developer

President Withdraws Pardon For Isaac R. Toussie After Learning Of Contributions To GOP By His Father

(CBS/ AP)  President Bush took the very rare step Wednesday of revoking a pardon he had granted only a day before, after learning in news reports of political contributions to Republicans by the man's father and other information.

Mr. Bush pardoned 19 people on Tuesday, including Isaac Robert Toussie of Brooklyn, N.Y., who had been convicted of making false statements to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and of mail fraud. On Wednesday, the White House issued an extraordinary statement saying the president was reversing his decision in Toussie's case.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said the new decision was "based on information that has subsequently come to light," including on the extent and nature of Toussie's prior criminal offenses. She also said that neither the White House counsel's office nor the president had been aware of a political contribution by Toussie's father that "might create an appearance of impropriety."

"Given that, this was the prudent thing to do," she said.

The new information came to the White House's attention from news reports, Perino said.

In its lead editorial Wednesday, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports that the New York Daily News slammed Mr. Bush for granting the pardon to Toussie - calling it "unthinkable" and "a breathtaking abuse of discretion that smells of cheaply bought political favoritism."

The story in the New York Daily News said Toussie's father, Robert, donated $28,500 to the national Republican Party in April. It came just months before Toussie's pardon petition, the newspaper said.

The counsel's office generally doesn't include vetting of political contributions in its reviews on such matters, as that would be "highly inappropriate on many levels," she said. The White House decision on Toussie had come without a recommendation from the pardon attorney, Ronald L. Rodgers, as Toussie's request for a pardon came less than five years after completion of his sentence, so that eliminated another step in the review process.

The Justice Department advises the president on who qualifies for pardons. Only people who have waited five years after their conviction or release from prison can apply for a pardon under the department's guidelines. Criminals are required to begin serving time, or otherwise exhaust any appeals, before they can be considered for sentence commutation.

But the president can forgive people outside that process if he chooses. Under the Constitution, the president's power to issue pardons is absolute and cannot be overruled — meaning he can forgive anyone he wants, at any time.

Perino said she is not aware of any other instance of a pardon reversal, in the Bush administration or others.

"The counsel to the president reviewed the application and believed, based on the information known to him at the time, that it was a meritorious application," she said. Mr. Bush now believes the case should rest with the pardon attorney.

The Daily News story on Wednesday, and another in Newsday and on blogs, shed light on Toussie's record. He pleaded guilty for lying to HUD and mail fraud, admitting that he falsified finances of prospective homebuyers seeking HUD mortgages. He was sentenced to five months in prison and five months' house arrest, a $10,000 fine and no restitution, the Daily News reported.

In another case, Toussie pleaded guilty to having a friend send his local county a letter that falsely inflated property values.

The Daily News also located a lawyer representing hundreds of ex-customers who have sued Toussie in federal court, accusing him of luring poor, minority homebuyers into buying overpriced homes with mortgages that had hidden costs.

Federal Election Commission records show a number of donations to Republicans this year by Robert Toussie and by a Laura Toussie who lists the same address. Between them, they gave $4,600 to Minnesota GOP Sen. Norm Coleman and another $4,600 to Oregon Republican Sen. Gordon Smith, all on Oct. 15. Coleman is locked in a still-undecided race against Democrat Al Franken, and Smith lost in November to Democrat Jeff Merkley.

On Oct. 30, Robert Toussie also gave $2,300 to GOP Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia.

His contribution to the Republican National Committee came as part of a fundraiser in March for GOP presidential candidate John McCain. Out of a total donation of $30,800 by Toussie, $2,300 went to McCain's campaign and $28,500 went to the RNC.

Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University and a close follower of presidential clemency decisions, said the White House decision strikes him as unprecedented, but he said it's not inconceivable that it had happened in the past.

"It's, at best, embarrassing. At worst, it's an extraordinary example of this White House's ability to bollox up one bit of presidential authority that he clearly has," Berman said.

Bradford Berenson, an associate White House counsel during Bush's first term and Isaac Toussie's lawyer, said in a statement that his client remained confident the pardon attorney would grant his request.

"Isaac Toussie is deeply grateful that both the counsel to the president and the president himself found Mr. Toussie's pardon application to have sufficient merit to be granted," Berenson said. "Mr. Toussie looks forward to the pardon attorney's expeditious review of the application."

Berenson declined to elaborate further on the case and its developments.

With the Toussie reversal, Bush has granted a total of 189 pardons and nine commutations. That's fewer than half as many as Presidents Clinton or Reagan issued during their two-term tenures.

[bjcone8559]

Good for him! Mr. Bush, MY president, has proven once again, he is a man of principle and moral standards.


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Posted by Hwy71So



Riiiight!!

And so are Cheney, Rove, Rumsfield, etc...

LMAO!!!

[earth562]

and where were republicans telling hedge fund managers , the financial ceos with giving out 20 billion dollars a yr in , bonuses for bad practices ? they wereen''''t. They were to busy worrying about the war on christmas or terry shciavo , or breaking the unions.



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Posted by clovisbuford at 12:53 PM : Dec 25, 2008

You should ask Barney Franks and Dodd and the Democrats also the same question. Its a bi-partisan mess...simple as that

[earth562]

SIG HEIL, NO MONEY, NO LAUNDRY!!!, BUSH!!!






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Posted by walt1944 at 11:17 AM : Dec 25, 2008

Goes to show that they even let imbiciles have computers.

You''re usage of Nazi symbolism when describing Republicans or Bush tells me you have NEVER actually read or understood what Facism was or is about.

You wouldn''t of been posting on this site if Facism was anywhere close to your life.

Its sad how the far left has diminished what Facism in Nazi germany was really like.

Get an education Sparky !

[clovisbuford]

I am not a bush fan , but he did the right thing here. You can''t vet every pardon request personally , when Bush found out it might have been prompted by a huge donation to the RNC , he reversed it , appropriate action ,end of story. I have criticised Bush ona lot of issues , but when he does the right thing for whaever reason give him his due .

[earth562]

What are some of you people going to do with your time when Bush is out of office ?

Who are you going to blame ?

[walt1944-2009]

It has been learned that the Great Emperor Bush II has revoked a pardon he "awarded" to a convicted crook a few days before.

The "official" reason is that the Great Enperor Bush did not realize that the crook''s father had contributed almost $30,000 to the neocon Fascist Nazi Republican Party in April, so the Great Emperor did not feel that the pardon was "appropriate".

As if the Great Emperor Bush II felt that anything wasn''t "appropriate"! After all, this is the same Great Emperor Bush II who has shredded the Constitution, listens in on EVERYONE, invades countries under false pretenses, ticks off his allies, rewards corporate crooks in the banking industry with handouts of taxpayer money, has been destroying the middle class and industry in the USSA, busting labor unions, neglects the country''s infrastructure, and is currently destroying the environment!

Did I forget anything???

Besides, the real reason the pardon was revoked was because the Great Emperor Bush II discovered that he personally didn''t get a "piece" of the $30,000 pie!!!

SIG HEIL, NO MONEY, NO LAUNDRY!!!, BUSH!!!

[pbkster]

Now he gets a conscience--merry christmas to the all the people that have died from his unconscionable decisions before he discovered it.

[jowand]

Dateline Washington D.C. June 2003, George W. Bush orders an end to hostilities in Iraq and sends the troops home. White House press secretary Dana Perino said the new decision was "based on information that has subsequently come to light,"

Posted by earache4 at 07:03 AM : Dec 25, 2008

More Liberal facts that you just made up?

Bubba gave Marc Rich a pardon, then his wife gave the Clinton Library about 500k. Did Bubba revoke Rich'' pardon?

[jowand]

I wouldn''''t be surprised if Dubya/Dik went to Saudi Arabia after 1/20/09 since we don''''t have an extradition treaty with them. I believe that is were Idi Amin went for about 20 yrs of exile before he died. I''''m sure Halliburton/KBR/Blackwater and Wall Street will forward their money there too.

Posted by hairyonetooo at 08:29 AM : Dec 25, 2008

Bush derangement syndrome.

[auscross1277]

Don''''t think we''''ll have the same pardon-fest like we did when bubba left office. However, Bush should pardon the border patrol agents.
Shame Bush doesn''''t have a brother or brother-in-law or a real rich guy living in exile in Switzerland or a bunch of Puerto Rican terrorist, etc,etc.
Posted by Xlib at 08:07 AM : Dec 25, 2008
*** Bush should pardon the border patrol agents! I agree with you on that... That is why I hate Bush and Juan Mccain! I hate the idea of amnesty... and I hate the fact that amnesty mccain and bush care more about illegal mexicans... than they do about working class americans!

[brianbwb-2009]

"Authorizing the use of military force and approving the strategy and tactics are two very different things. The details in the strategery and the tactics approved by civilians in the administration are where potential criminal conduct occurred." Posted by misha128

Not to mention obtaining the authorization by means of knowingly submitting false information.

Also don''t forget putting US troops'' lives into harm''s way based on lies, thus compromising the safety and integrity of the US military, are offenses rising to the level of treason.

[hairyonetooo]

Too bad your predictions won''''t come true. As President and Commander-In-Chief, President Bush exercised his perogatives, none of which warrant charges against him or Cheney. But you can dream!
Posted by rhs648 at 05:36 PM : Dec 24, 2008

I wouldn''t be surprised if Dubya/Dik went to Saudi Arabia after 1/20/09 since we don''t have an extradition treaty with them. I believe that is were Idi Amin went for about 20 yrs of exile before he died. I''m sure Halliburton/KBR/Blackwater and Wall Street will forward their money there too.

[xlib]

Don''t think we''ll have the same pardon-fest like we did when bubba left office. However, Bush should pardon the border patrol agents.
Shame Bush doesn''t have a brother or brother-in-law or a real rich guy living in exile in Switzerland or a bunch of Puerto Rican terrorist, etc,etc.

[rob416]

I guess for the victim of the revoked pardon and his family Jan. 20th can''t come soon enough. I don''t know, but if the President gave out this pardon on the merits of the case, then he should have stood by it regardless of the new information received. Besides getting a legal donation to the Republican Party from the Father hardly creates "impropriety" when most of the Bush presidency was improper.

What an irony Bush is concerened about perception on a pardon of not much significance, but is not concerned about the improprites in handling 8 years of his term in The White House.

[smirk22-2009]

Now, we need to know all the contacts that Toussie and his surrogates have had with any members of the Bush Administration. We need to know everything that was said. If Blagojevich stains Obama, then Toussie stains Bush. Why did this man get a pardon in the first place? What was offered to the Bush Administration for the original pardon?

[misha128-2009]

Well considering that ONLY congress can bring up charges, and since Congress approved the invasion of IRAQ, I say this is doubtful

Posted by DJ_Houston at 07:15 PM : Dec 24, 2008

Authorizing the use of military force and approving the strategy and tactics are two very different things. The details in the strategery and the tactics approved by civilians in the administration are where potential criminal conduct occurred.

[rudy6543]

"You never were TODAYS news boot. You''re not worth a *****." ...................TheMajority1 said to himself as he looked into the mirror.

[daisyjingles]

Once pardoned by the President, it would seem that the person is the same as if held innocent. To convict them again would mean the government had to start over to prove it''s case. Pardons do not qualify for a ''Do over'' to use Bush''s phrase.

[jerr11]

What happened?

Did the check bounce?

[timothyone-2009]

This revocation will be overturned in court, as planned by Rove, setting a precedent that Bush will later use to stop Democrats from overturning the pardons he will soon give to his gang.