NEW YORK, Dec. 24, 2008
Bush Revokes Pardon For NYC Developer
President Withdraws Pardon For Isaac R. Toussie After Learning Of Contributions To GOP By His Father
-
Photo
(CBS)
-
Interactive
Bush Presidency
The president's agenda, plus facts, figures, major events and key personalities.
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.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Video and Galleries from Politics
-
Video
Cheney's Top Secret Plan
-
Video
Sotomayor's Confirmation
-
Video
Probing The Bush Administration
He might should give Laura Bush and Mrs. Cheney pardons too, otherwise they might have to testify against other people in government two.
Posted by 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!
These men will have to look over their shoulders for the rest of their sick, miserable,lives.
Posted by rhs648 at 05:36 PM : Dec 24, 2008
Almost a million humans are dead because Bush exercized his perogative and lied 962 times for this war for profit.
I''d say that warrants war crime trials and charges for crimes against humanity.
Or maybe you wouldn''t have a problem if this ruthless murderer decided to exercize his perogative and had your family slaughtered.
That''s true, but quite beside the point. The pardons that the previous post referred to were pardons not just for Bush himself, but for a whole list of people in his administration. From that, it''s obvious that the previous post was not talking only about a pardon from Bush to himself. The Constitution sets limits on a President''s "perogatives," believe it or not. It''s the numerous crimes by Bush against the Constitution, specifically, failure to uphold his oath of office to faithfully execute the laws of the United States (see, signing statements) and failure to respect the heart and soul of the Constiution -- separation of powers -- that the previous post was obviously referring to. Whether people agree or disagree re whether Bush, et al, are guilty of such crimes (and a number of staunchly conservative Constitutional scholars like Bruce Fein believe he and his crew are DEFINITELY guilty), the notion that some vague, unlimited expanse of Presidential
"perogatives" exist to give Bush complete immunity from any criminal accountability is simply false. Richard Nixon could tell you that much from the grave.
Posted by rhs648
Of all the arrogant, stupid postings I''ve read here, and the Republican trolls have provided some real doozies, that has to be the most arrogant of all.
Bush has committed treasonous, impeachable acts on an almost daily basis for years.
Our Deserter-in-Chief is not merely an inept, mentally and morally challenged president...HE''S A CRIMINAL!
Hopefully, after January 20th, the leaks about wrongdoing and the tell-all books will start to come out and someone in the new administration will grow a pair of balls and have these people indicted and prosecuted. these vermin have looted the country and bankrupted the world.
saddam was using WMD to kill hundred of thousand of his own people, not ours. What''''s the world coming to when a man can''''t even committ mass murder in his own country. So what if he supported terrorists, it''''s his country after all, the man can do whatever he wants. And so what if he invaded Kuwait and Kuwaitis are still unaccounted for today. They probably did something to deserve it. His 2 sons was just having some fun with the girls, you know, boys will be boys.
Looking back,Bush and Cheney should of left poor saddam alone, he was just having some fun with his people, the guy was so harmless.
Posted by USA-No1
Saddam Hussein wasn''t "killing hundred of thousand" (sic) of his own people with WMDs. I guess you haven''t read a newspaper in the past five years, and don''t know that the so-called WMDs didn''t exist. Just a ruse to get lazy Americans to support the illegal war, rather than question its motives.
Saddam didn''t "support terrorists" either. I assume you''re referring to the tired old story about Saddam paying money to the families of Palestinians whose homes were illegally demolished by the Israelis?
Perhaps you should take a course in english grammar, rather than excite yourself over foreign matters?
Did the check bounce?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Posted by hairyonetooo at 08:29 AM : Dec 25, 2008
Bush derangement syndrome.
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?
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!!!
Who are you going to blame ?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 !
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-
by bjcone8559
December 26, 2008 4:11 PM PST
- Good for him! Mr. Bush, MY president, has proven once again, he is a man of principle and moral standards.
-
Reply to this comment
-
See all 33 Comments--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by Hwy71So
Riiiight!!
And so are Cheney, Rove, Rumsfield, etc...
LMAO!!!