By Gillian Brockell,

When the great Gen. George Washington left his comfortable retirement at Mount Vernon to become the first president of the United States, well-wishers threw flowers at his feet. For hundreds of miles, as he made his way to the temporary capital in New York City, thousands of people followed alongside with blessings, toasts and cheers. Once he was in New York, there was a fireworks show.

Seven years later, toward the end of his second term, he was so disliked that the House voted against adjourning for 30 minutes to wish him well on his birthday.

Nowadays, Washington’s birthday is officially recognized, but when he was alive, his legacy was very nearly ruined by his presidency. Historian Alexis Coe describes how and why in her new book, “You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington.”

It cannot be overstated how much Washington did not want to be president. Years before, he had been so excited to be general at the beginning of the Revolutionary War that he showed up to the Second Continental Congress in uniform. It wasn’t so with the presidency. When news of his election reached him in the spring of 1789, he told Henry Knox, “My movements to the chair of Government will be accompanied with feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution.”

“He had every reason to stay home as far as his personal preferences, what his wife wanted and his position in the world,” Coe recently told The Washington Post. “He had everything to lose by going into the presidency. And in some ways, he did.”

Renowned presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin finally takes on George Washington

The first big problem was how frequently he was caught in the middle of infighting between the two nascent political parties, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. His Cabinet members were split between the two, and the infighting did not stay behind closed doors. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson funded a newspaper that criticized Washington’s every move, while Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton wrote under a pseudonym for a pro-Washington paper.

Long before MSNBC vs. Fox News, it was the National Gazette vs. the Gazette of the United States. “Neither publication bothered with the pretense of objectivity,” Coe writes. No articles “were fact-checked, and everything, including personal lives, was fair game.”

Although Washington never declared a party affiliation, only Federalists remained in his administration in his second term.

And that second term, which he had to be persuaded to even bother with, was when things got really bad.

Great Britain and France were at war, and both empires wanted the United States to side with them. At the same time, tensions between the United States and Britain were rising because Britain still had not withdrawn from forts it had agreed to vacate at the end of the Revolutionary War, and it was seizing American ships and sailors bound for France.

In the end, the Washington administration negotiated a treaty with the British. It barely passed the Senate, but it “was immensely unpopular with the American public,” according to the State Department’s Office of the Historian.

No, Devin Nunes, Trump in 2019 is not like George Washington in 1794

Of course, it didn’t help that France’s new ambassador to the United States went on a speaking tour up the East Coast to whip up support for the French, Coe writes. By then, the capital had moved to Philadelphia. Vice President John Adams later wrote that the French ambassador had incited “ten thousand People in the Streets of Philadelphia, day after day, threaten[ing] to drag Washington out of his House, and effect a Revolution in the Government.”

Then there was the Whiskey Rebellion debacle. To pay back foreign debt, Hamilton had proposed a tax on whiskey from Kentucky and western Pennsylvania. Distillers worried it would decrease sales and thought it was unfair that they take on the burden for the whole country.

They petitioned Washington to stop it. Then they held peaceful demonstrations. Finally, violence broke out — one tax collector was tarred and feathered, and another’s home was set ablaze.

“In an extraordinary show of executive overreach,” Coe writes, Washington called the state militia to federal service. He showed up in Pittsburgh in a military uniform to lead the charge against the tax opponents, becoming “the first and only president to take up arms against his own citizens.”

But there was no confrontation. Washington thought the better of it and returned to Philadelphia. When two insurrectionists were convicted of treason, he pardoned them, but the damage to his reputation had been done.

Coe includes a chart in her book of what other Founders said about Washington before his presidency and after. The difference is shocking.

John Adams in 1785: “I glory in the character of Washington because I know him to be an exemplification of the American character.”

John Adams in 1812: “Too illiterate, unlearned, unread for his station and reputation.” (Washington was largely self-taught but not illiterate or unlearned.)

And here’s Thomas Paine in a letter to Washington in 1779: “I shall never suffer a hint of dishonor or even a deficiency of respect to you to pass unnoticed.”

And in 1796: “The world will be puzzled to decide whether you are an apostate or an impostor; whether you have abandoned good principles, or whether you ever had any.”

Yikes.

Washington’s Farewell Address has become famous for warning Americans against political factions and foreign influence. Earlier drafts of the speech also show him railing against “malicious falsehoods” spread about him “to misrepresent my politics and affections; to wound my reputation and feelings.” Hamilton encouraged him to cut that part because he sounded too bitter.

Washington delivered a final address to Congress in December 1796, three months before he officially left office. Andrew Jackson, a freshman congressman at the time, was in the audience. The future president refused to applaud.

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/02/17/george-washington-unpopular-president/?utm_campaign=pockethits&utm_medium=email&utm_source=pocket

By Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman

The president also pardoned or commuted the sentences of eight others on Tuesday, including Edward DeBartolo, a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers.

WASHINGTON — President Trump, citing what he said was advice from friends and business associates, granted clemency on Tuesday to a who’s who of white-collar criminals from politics, sports and business who were convicted on charges involving fraud, corruption and lies — including the financier Michael R. Milken.

The president pardoned Mr. Milken, the so-called junk bond king of the 1980s, as well as the former New York City police commissioner Bernard B. Kerik and Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers. He also commuted the sentence of Rod R. Blagojevich, a former Democratic governor of Illinois.

Their political and finance schemes made them household names, and three received prison terms while Mr. DeBartolo paid a $1 million fine.

Mr. Trump also pardoned David Safavian, thetop federal procurement official under President George W. Bush, who had been sentenced in 2009 to a year in prison for lying about his ties to the lobbyist Jack Abramoff and obstructing the sprawling investigation into Mr. Abramoff’s efforts to win federal business. The president also granted clemency to six other people.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly stated his commitment to a criminal justice overhaul and addressing the excessive sentences given to minorities. At the urging of Kim Kardashian West in 2018, he pardoned Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old African-American woman serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug conviction. Ms. Johnson was the centerpiece of a TV ad the Trump campaign ran this month during the Super Bowl.

But the president’s announcements on Tuesday were mostly aimed at wiping clean the slates of rich, powerful and well-connected white men. And they came after years of sophisticated public relations campaigns aimed at persuading Mr. Trump to exercise the authority given to him under the Constitution.

Patti Blagojevich, the wife of the former Illinois governor, frequently appeared on Fox News calling for Mr. Trump to commute her husband’s sentence. Mr. Kerik, a regular on Fox News, appeared on the network as recently as Monday night. Mr. Milken has sought to rebrand himself as a philanthropist in recent years as allies campaigned on his behalf for a pardon.

In conversations with his advisers, Mr. Trump has also raised the prospect of commuting the sentence of Roger J. Stone Jr., his longtime adviser, who was convicted in November of seven felony charges, including tampering with a witness and lying under oath in order to obstruct a congressional inquiry into whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election.

Asked about a pardon for Mr. Stone on Tuesday, Mr. Trump insisted that “I haven’t given it any thought.”

Democrats pounced on the president’s announcements.

“Today, Trump granted clemency to tax cheats, Wall Street crooks, billionaires and corrupt government officials,” said Senator Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont, the leading Democratic candidate for president. “Meanwhile, thousands of poor and working-class kids sit in jail for nonviolent drug convictions. This is what a broken and racist criminal justice system looks like.”

Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, said in a statement that the president abused the pardon power by using it to reward friends and repair the reputations of felons who do not deserve it.

“The pardoning of these disgraced figures should be treated as another national scandal by a lawless executive,” he said.

But Mr. Trump defended his grants of clemency on Tuesday.

He was particularly critical of the 14-year prison sentence for Mr. Blagojevich, who was convicted of trying when he was governor of Illinois to essentially sell the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama when he became president. Mr. Blagojevich also once appeared on the reality TV series “The Celebrity Apprentice,” which Mr. Trump hosted.

“That was a tremendously powerful, ridiculous sentence, in my opinion,” Mr. Trump said after announcing that Mr. Blagojevich would go free after serving eight years. The president alleged that the former governor was a victim of the same forces that investigated him for years, citing James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, and Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney in Chicago who prosecuted Mr. Blagojevich.

“It was a prosecution by the same people — Comey, Fitzpatrick, the same group,” Mr. Trump told reporters, misstating Mr. Fitzgerald’s name.

Mr. Trump gave no indication that he relied on the usual vetting process that guides presidents making use of their constitutional authority to wipe away criminal convictions or commute prison sentences.

Traditionally, the Justice Department’s pardons office would make recommendations about pardons and commutations to the deputy attorney general, who would weigh in and then pass the department’s final determinations to the White House. Instead, Mr. Trump told reporters that he followed “recommendations” in making his decisions.

Those recommendations, according to a White House statement, came from the president’s longtime friends, business executives, celebrities, campaign donors, sports figures and political allies.

In pardoning Mr. Kerik, who pleaded guilty to tax fraud and lying to the government, Mr. Trump said he heard from more than a dozen people, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer; Geraldo Rivera, a Fox TV personality; and Eddie Gallagher, a former Navy SEAL and accused war criminal whose demotion was overturned by Mr. Trump last year.

Mr. Kerik had a pardon application pending and Mr. Blagojevich had a commutation application pending, but a source close to the pardons office did not believe that the pardon attorney had given either of those applications full-throated support.

Mr. Milken, whose dealings contributed to the collapse of the savings-and-loan industry, fought for decades to reverse his conviction for securities fraud. Richard LeFrak, a billionaire real estate magnate and longtime friend; Sheldon G. Adelson, a prominent Republican donor; and Nelson Peltz, a billionaire investor who hosted a $10 million fund-raiser for the president’s 2020 campaign on Saturday, were among those who suggested that Mr. Trump pardon him.

Mr. Milken did not have a pardon or commutation application pending at the Justice Department’s pardons office, meaning that the president made that decision entirely without official Justice Department input. Two previous applications had been denied and closed.

The football greats Jerry Rice and Joe Montana — as well as the singer-songwriter Paul Anka — urged the president to pardon Mr. DeBartolo, who pleaded guilty in 1998 to concealing an extortion attempt. Mr. DeBartolo avoided prison but was fined $1 million and was suspended for a year by the N.F.L. He later handed over the 49ers to his sister Denise DeBartolo York.

Turkish President Erdogan said on Wednesday that Russia-Turkey talks on Syria’s Idlib have not been conducive to bringing about the desired result and bilateral discussions are still far from meeting Ankara’s demands.

Speaking at a parliamentary meeting with his ruling AKP party, Erdogan warned that an offensive in Idlib could begin “at any moment”.

“Turkey has made all necessary preparations to kick off an operation in Idlib. As in the case with any other operation, we say: ‘we could come at night at any moment’. In other words, the Idlib offensive could begin at any time”, TRThaber quoted the president as saying.

The Turkish president emphasised that Ankara is seeking to turn the embattled province into a secure zone even while discussions with Russia continue. Erdogan added that he had discussed potential action in Syria with President Trump over the phone.

“We will not leave Idlib to the regime that does not understand yet how determined we are. We are adamant in our desire to transform Idlib into a safe haven both for civilians and for Turkey at whatever cost”, Erdogan asserted.

Source: Sputnik

By Hripsime Hovhannisyan,

Nikol Pashinyan’s response to Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference sounded very weak indeed as the prime minister was not properly prepared to react adequately to the Azerbaijani leader, says Kayts Minasyan, an analyst at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

In an interview with Tert.am, he shared his concerns of the Armenian diplomacy’s failure, in the past 30 years, to cite the pogroms in Azerbaijani cities and towns as strong a restraint expected to influence the opposite side.

″Nikol Pashinyan’s response was really weak. He either was not properly prepared or missed the occasion to react adequately.

″In the past 30 years or so, the Armenian diplomacy has not, by and large, properly used the 1915 Armenian Genocide issue in its rhetoric; the intetrnational community knows that, and Armenia never addresses the topic, which isn’t quite clear at all,″ he said when asked to comment on the prime minister’s response to Aliyev’s remark accusing Armenia for genocidal policies (as the Armenian leader referred to former Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov’s allegations on the ″Khojalu events″ instead of reminding him of the massive killings of the Armenians in Baku, Sumgait, Talish, etc).

The expert described the kind of reaction as a serious error, noting that repeated references to the historical facts could have a restraining influence. ″The Armenian authorities do not unfortunately use that, whereas the Genocide and the Artsakh issue (Sumgait, Kirovabad and Baku) deal with the security of the Armenians themselves. And nevertheless, Baku drastically denies the genocide of Armenians. How are we expected then to have the confidence that Azerbaijan will ensure Armenians’ security?″ he asked.  

Asked why Pashinyan referred only to the security of the Artsakh Armenians (without any remark on the country’s right to self-determination and the existence of the Artsakh Republic in general), the expert highlighted the fundamental attitude to the issue. ″It has to do with principles. What does the security of Armenians mean for Azerbaijan? With Baku remaining silent on the issue, Nikol Pashinyan insists on the [fundamental] clause. The prime minister wishes to rephrase the main principles. Yet the use of ‘grey zone’ in the Armenian rheotoric entices Baku into believing that there is a chance to push ahead with peace in the region,″ Minasyan said.

The expert noted at the same time that both Armenia and Azerbaijan are trying to act from the positions of strength in pushing ahead with their approaches. ″Pashinyan was putting the emphasis on the Armenian security and history throughout the discussion, while Aliyev was emphasizing the law and misrepresenting history. Following the exchange of thoughts between Aliyev and Pashinyan, I came up with the questions as to whether the diplomatic meetings in the past 30 years aimed at arriving at such a gap. Peace, accordingly, is not something for tomorrow.″

Commenting on the international reactions to the meeting, Minasyan said he has the overall impression that the initiators were really content. ″They knew it was the first time and had to do everything possible to make the sides speak out. Meetings in this format will be held also this year  – and in the years to come – but there is now a good opportunity to believe that the organizers of the Munich Conference will re-establish the [format of] the kind of negotiations. The prime minister of Armenia must, nevertheless, be better prepared. This kind of meeting is part of the communication strategy,″ he added.

ARMENPRESS. The murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan in Budapest – coupled with the subsequent development – proves the racist nature of Azerbaijan. The decision to pardon the perpetrator paved way to impunity, while the move grant him privileges was conditioned by a crime on ethnic grounds. All these issues are stated in the appeal submitted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

On the anniversary of the tragic event, an MP from the ruling My Step faction in parliament Tatev Hayrapetyan (who specializes in Azerbaijani studies), and a Yerevan-based attorney, Siranuysh Sahakyan, gave an interview to Armenpress, elaborating on the topic.

“The tragic murder of Gurgen Margaryan – and the subsequent actions – clearly show what country we are dealing with. All the actions by Azerbaijan prove, yet another time, that country’s militaristic, xenophobic and racist nature”, Hayrapetyan said.

She added Armenia never misses the chance to raise the issue on all international platforms “on the level of its leaders, parliamentar and NGOs. The prime minister recently addressed the topic again at a meeting at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Berlin. ”

“Gurgen Margaryan’s assassination was committed at the center of Europe several years ago. We must continue talking not only about this tragedy but also the other cases to demonstrate Azerbaijan’s true character. Both the electoral frauds and Azerbaijan’s belligerent rhetoric and hostilities rule out a return to the past”, Hayrapetyan said, pointing out to Azerbaijan’s distinctively racist and anti-Armenian polciies continuing also today.

Siranusyh Sahakyan, who represents the interests of Margaryan’s successors at the European court, elaborated on details pertaining to the case, emphasizing that the process is in a conclusive phase now. She said that the judgeement is due in March. The ECHR case is against Hungary and Azerbaijan.

“With regard to Azerbaijan, we have asked the Court to record a violation of  the right to life. The appeal says that Azerbaijan has ensured impunity by pardoning the criminal. We have also posed questions saying that giving pardoning and giving privileges to the criminal was conditioned by a murder on ethnic grounds. That’s a very important point as it might enable us to achieve the declaration, by an international tribunal, of a fact reflecting an an anti-Armenian discrimination, pointing out to Azerbaijan’s responsibility as a state,” she said, promising to pursue the implementation of the verdict by the Hungarian court to return the Azerbaijani officer to the country to serve his sentence.

On January 11, 2004, Gurgen Margaryan left for Budapest, Hungary, to participate in a three-month English language course which was part of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program. On February 19 he was axed, while asleep, by his fellow Azerbaijani participant, Lieutenant Ramil Safarov. The murder took place at 5 am, while the victim was asleep.

Safarov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, was transferred back to his home country on August 31, 2012 under an extradition agreement. Although Azerbaijan formally pledged that the life sentence handed down to him in Hungary would be directly continued when he was returned to his homeland, the Azerbaijani president granted him a pardon and formally recognized him as a “national hero” upon his arrival.

ARMENPRESS. After a long pause caused by the military operations in Syria, the airport of Aleppo is being re-launched. Today, on February 19, the first flight en route Damascus-Aleppo will be operated

Ethnic Armenian MP of the Syrian Parliament Jirair Reisian told Armenpress that the society welcomed this news with a great enthusiasm.

“Due to the shutdown of the airport the life in Aleppo was difficult for various reasons. The airport is an important infrastructure both for the city and the state. The first flight will be operated in Damascus-Aleppo route, and there are also plans to increase the number of flights and routes in the future”, the lawmaker said.

The re-launch of the airport will contribute to accelerating Aleppo’s restoration process. Jirair Reisian said it’s a very important tool for boosting business. The re-launch of the airport will also have its affect on the economic activity.

Talking about the other infrastructural problems of the city the MP informed that significant works have been carried out over the water supply. Some districts are supplied with water the whole day, and the works in the remaining ones continue. The electricity issue is not completely solved yet, people are supplied with electricity for several hours a day, but all these issues are under the direct spotlight of the authorities. Everything is being done to provide people with electricity.

Activities are also planned for the restoration of structures of the Armenian community in Aleppo. Jirair Reisian said the issue of schools was a priority, no school-children has been left without classes at this period. Everything possible has been done for the operation of Armenian schools. Currently, all classes are normally being carried out, the children are actively participating in the educational processes. As for the churches, the lawmaker informed that during this period the Mother Church of Aleppo has been restored and now is operating normally. The issue of the St. George Church is on the agenda. It is located in the Armenian-populated Nor Gyugh district of Aleppo. The MP also informed that the St. Gregory the Illuminator Church is also located in this part and is operating normally.

As for the movements of Armenians, Jirair Reisian said many have returned to Aleppo, many visit to get acquainted with the local conditions and consider the options of returning back completely. “In any case we wish all sons of the community to return to their homes and restore their works”, he said.

During those days in line with the liberation of Aleppo another important event took place in Syria. The Parliament of Syria officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. “Syria officially recognized the Armenian Genocide. Here the key message is for us to fight jointly against and prevent the crimes”, he said, adding that today as well Syria is subject to the hostile acts of the same criminals.

On February 13 the Syrian Parliament unanimously adopted a resolution on recognizing and condemning the Armenian Genocide.

YEREVAN. – The first court hearing on the criminal case against Armenia’s third President Serzh Sargsyan, former Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan, owner of Flash company Barsegh Beglaryan, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Samvel Galstyan, and former head of the Ministry’s Department of Crop Production Gevorg Harutyunyan has been set for February 25. Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned this today from the judicial information system.

The case has been assigned Judge Vahe Misakyan of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan.

They were charged under the Criminal Code article on organizing, inciting and assisting large-scale appropriation or squander, whereas former Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan—under the article on large-scale appropriation or squander. 

During the investigation of the criminal case being investigated at the Special Investigation Service of Armenia, it was found out that with the organization of third president Serzh Sargsyan, the impelling of the owner of Flesh company Barsegh Beglaryan, with the assistance of former deputy minister of agriculture Samvel Galstyan and head of the Agriculture Ministry’s Department of Crop Production Gevorg Harutyunyan, former Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan misused—from January 25 to February 7, 2013—the government reserve fund for state support the subsidy of 489,160,310 drams allocated for the 15,391,765 liters of diesel fuel that was sold during the implementation of assistance programs.

President Armen Sarkissian has signed decrees whereby Artur Baghdasaryan, Chief of the Military Police, and Aleksan Aleksanyan, Head of the Department of Moral and Psychological Provision of the Armed Forces of Armenia, have been relieved of their respective posts.