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Opinion: I am not naive enough to believe that a pardon would in any way begin the process of healing or mend our broken fences. But it's still the right thing to do.

AP Explains: Trump pleads not guilty to 34 charges

A stone-faced Donald Trump made a momentous court appearance Tuesday as the only ex-president to be charged with a crime as he was confronted with a 34-count felony indictment. (April 4)

AP

Back in the day, our nations founders had this crazy idea to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility .

I say crazy because nearly 2 centuries later the union is nowhere near perfect, justice for all has yet to be established and virtually no aspect of our domestic situation is tranquil.

These days, one of the major reasons for this turmoil is former President Donald Trump, a man who has never been particularly keen on tranquility.

Just the opposite.

Chaos is his game.

That may be one of the reasons hes in trouble, most recently having been indicted by the Manhattan district attorneys office with 34 counts of falsifying business records.

He also faces possible indictment out of Atlanta for allegedly attempting to subvert the 2020 election results in Georgia.

As well as more potential indictments stemming from a Department of Justice investigation into the classified documents Trump took to Mar-a-Lago, as well as any connection he may have had to the Jan. 6., 2021, insurrection.

The general publics reaction to Trumps indictment falls into two categories. People either believe it is proof that no one is above the law, or proof of a politically motivated witch hunt.

Should any of the cases against Trump proceed to trial, where a verdict is reached, not a single persons opinion about this will change.

Not one.

Should Trump be found guilty, there would be an appeal, or perhaps many appeals.

And no matter how those cases are resolved, Id guess he will never spend any time in jail because, basically, we have yet to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility .

Given all that, President Joe Biden should pull a Gerald Ford and pardon Donald Trump. And, yes, I know, a president can't pardon someone for a state crime, only for federal offenses. But Biden can eliminate federal complaints. He can set a tone. He can be, in a way Trump never was, presidential.

In 1974, after former President Richard Nixon resigned over his involvement in the Watergate scandal, for which he would have faced criminal prosecution, Ford announced that he had decided to grant a full, free and absolute pardon to Nixon.

The pardon was not well received. A majority of Americans wanted Nixon prosecuted, and Fords decision may have cost him the subsequent presidential election.

Ford never wavered, however.

He appeared before a congressional committee and told them, I was absolutely convinced then as I am now that if we had had anindictment, a trial, a conviction, and anything else that transpired after this that the attention of the President, the Congress and the American people would have been diverted from the problems that we have to solve.

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One of those who disagreed with Ford at the time was Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy.

In 2001, however, while presenting Ford with a Profile in Courage award, Kennedy said, Unlike many of us at the time, President Ford recognized that the nation had to move forward, and could not do so if there was a continuing effort to prosecute former President Nixon.His courage and dedication to our country made it possible for us to begin the process of healing and put the tragedy of Watergate behind us.

Every president grants pardons.

Barack Obama issued 212. George W. Bush did 189. Trump, during his time, granted 143.

They are often controversial. More proof of our messy system of justice.

I am not nave enough to believe that granting a pardon to Trump would in any way begin the process of healing or put the tragedy behind us.

But its still the right thing to do.

Ford told the House committee, Our nation is under the severest of challenges now to employ its full energies and efforts in the pursuit of a sound and growing economy at home and a stable and peaceful world around us. We would needlessly be diverted from meeting those challenges if we as a people were to remain sharply divided over whether to indict, bring to trial, and punish a former President .

Yeah, what he said.

Reach Montini ated.montini@arizonarepublic.com.

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Joe Biden should pardon Donald Trump, spare us from indictment ... - The Arizona Republic