Crossbenchers and Bridget Archer call for David McBride to be pardoned.
A group of 29 federal crossbenchers and Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer have written a letter to the Albanese government calling for it to request a full #pardon for jailed military lawyer #DavidMcBride.
On Tuesday, McBride was sentenced to prison for five years and eight months for taking classified defence documents about the war in Afghanistan from his former employer, the Australian defence force, and leaking them to ABC journalists.
The documents formed the basis for the ABC investigative series, The Afghan Files, which revealed #warcrimes committed by Australian soldiers. McBride will serve at least two years and three months in a Canberra jail as part of his non-parole period.
The letter, sent on Thursday, urges the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, to advise the governor-general to grant McBride a full pardon to “end this injustice”.
“In 2020, prime minister, you told media outlet Crikey, in relation to the Collaery prosecution, ‘the idea that there should be a prosecution of a whistleblower, for what’s a shameful part of Australia’s history, is simply wrong’. It is equally shameful that the first person imprisoned in relation to Australia’s war crimes in Afghanistan is not a war criminal but the source of the Afghan Files reporting, journalism that was undeniably in the public interest.”
The letter also calls for the prosecution of former tax employee, #RichardBoyle, to end. Boyle spoke out internally, then to an independent watchdog and then to the media in 2018 about the Australian Taxation Office’s aggressive pursuit of tax debts from small businesses, which he said was destroying lives and causing unnecessary trauma to help the agency meet revenue goals.
Boyle is awaiting an appeal decision about whether he can use federal #whistleblower protection laws to gain immunity from his charges.
The group is also calling for Labor to commit to overhauling #whistleblowing laws this term, including work to establish a whistleblower #protection commission by next year. #auspol
After pleading #guilty to #MoneyLaundering & #obstruction of #justice, Paul #Manafort, the globe-trotting #political consultant & former campaign chairman for #Trump, asked for leniency in his sentencing, telling a federal judge 5 yrs ago that he was nearly 70, struggling w/health concerns & remorseful for his actions.
Emails, documents & interviews fill in details of Manafort’s life & work between 2020, when he swapped #prison for home confinement owing to the COVID pandemic & then landed a #pardon from #Trump, & this #election cycle, as he prepares to reenter Trump’s orbit. Advisers say Trump is determined to hire #Manafort, likely handing him a substantial role at the #RNC in Milwaukee, #Wisconsin because he appreciates that his onetime campaign chairman has remained #loyal to him even while… in prison.
#Republican Donald #Trump has launched his general election campaign not merely rewriting the #history of the #Jan6, 2021, Capitol attack [#insurrection], but positioning the #violent siege & its failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election as a cornerstone of his bid to return to the #WhiteHouse.
Having previously vowed to #pardon the rioters [#insurrectionists], he promised to help them “the first day we get into office.”
Initially relegated to a #fringe theory on the edges of the #Republican Party, the #RevisionistHistory of #Jan6, which Trump amplified during the early days of the #GOP primary campaign to rouse his most devoted voters, remains a rally centerpiece even as he must appeal more broadly to a general election audience.
#Trump may enlist #PaulManafort
…While no formal decision has been made, 4 people described the hiring as expected & said Trump was determined to bring #Manafort back into the fold.
Manafort worked for Trump in 2016 before being ousted & later #convicted of tax & bank #fraud#felonies as part of Robert #Mueller’s investigation into #Russia’s 2016 #ElectionInterference. He served time in #prison before receiving a #pardon in the final days of Trump’s presidency.
Trump asked the justices to put on hold an appeals court ruling that rejected his broad claim of #PresidentialImmunity in relation to events leading up to the #Jan6 attack on the Capitol.
If #Trump wins the election [I can’t find an emoji for spitting to ward off 🧿 ], he would be in a position to order that the charges be #dismissed or seek to #pardon himself.
Trump ultimately would like #SCOTUS to hear his case & overturn the appeals court decision, but before the justices can reach that issue they have to decide whether to put the lower court ruling on hold.
#MardiPatisserie
Mon cake maison, recette ancestrale (enfin, de ma grand-mère... Mais de qui la tenait-elle ?).
À partir du mélange de base, je varie la garniture.
Ici, c'est un mélange pruneaux raisins au sirop (un truc que j'avais en placard)