President Donald Trump’s legacy will be at stake if he doesn’t sign the coronavirus aid package that has passed Congress, said Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) on Sunday, according to The Hill.
“You don’t get everything you want, even if you’re the president of the United States. I think the COVID relief measures are really, really important,” said Toomey on “Fox News Sunday.”
“In my state, as in many other states, we have governors who are closing down businesses again,” added Toomey.
Trump has not yet vetoed the bill passed by Congress, what Toomey called a “hopeful sign,” and he demanded an increase of the direct payments of $2,000 to Americans.
Toomey suggested that Trump thought about his legacy with the larger payment demand, but also said that “he’ll be remembered for chaos and misery and erratic behaviour if he allows this to expire.”
“I understand the president would like to send bigger checks to everybody. … I think he ought to sign this bill and then make the case. I don’t agree with $2,000 to people who have had no lost income whatsoever, but the president’s free to make that case,” said Toomey.
On a question about recent presidential pardons, Toomey said that the former national security adviser Michael Flynn was a victim of prosecutorial misconduct and it was “perfectly legitimate to pardon him.”
On the other hand, he said that in “some of this other cases we have tax fraud, bank fraud, witness tampering, obstruction of justice,” referring to the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Toomey also made comparison of the pardons to President Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich, a financier and Democratic donor.
“It is legal, it is constitutional, but I think it’s a misuse of the power,” added Toomey.
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