Open Letter to President Donald J. Trump

By: Donald V. Watkins

© Copyrighted and Published on March 18, 2020

Dear President Trump,

Last Sunday, you issued this tweet regarding a pardon for former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn: "I am strongly considering a Full Pardon [for Flynn]." In your tweet, you acknowledged the misconduct committed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ) in Flynn's case. As you stated, these law enforcement agencies somehow "lost" records in Mr. Flynn's case and "destroyed" his life. For the reasons outlined in this letter, you should pardon Mr. Flynn, without hesitation or reservation.

As you know, the FBI and DOJ engaged in a reign of lawlessness during the tenure of James Comey (who was fired by you for his incompetence), Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller (who was the designated "hitman" to take you out as president). This takedown attempt was made possible when Jeff Sessions, your appointed Attorney General, deserted you on the battlefield in Washington as soon as he learned that these DOJ renegades were plotting to remove you from office.

Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to a single charge of lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak after Mueller's prosecutors threatened to indict his son and "destroy" his life, too. Flynn later asked the judge in his case to withdraw his guilty plea after Mueller's prosecutors breached their plea agreement with him. This request is pending in court.

In order to take you down, Robert Mueller and his band of "rogue" prosecutors manufactured "process-related crimes" against Flynn and several of your other close friends and associates. This is why Mueller and his prosecutors accused Flynn, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Michael Cohen, Roger Stone and your other associates of (a) lying to the FBI, (b) lying to Congress, (c) tampering with witnesses, and (d) obstruction of justice. These individuals were viewed as collateral damage in the first coup d'etat to take you down.

In contrast to the mistreatment of your friends, Andrew McCabe was investigated for lying to the FBI and leaking confidential information. Yet, he was not charged with a crime. Jeff Sessions apparently lied to Congress about his involvement with Russia in 2016. Yet, he, too, has not been charged with a crime to date.

What is more, when U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Porteous (Eastern District of Louisiana) was impeached for lying to Congress in 2009, President Barack Obama's DOJ never charged him with lying to Congress. Also, when Chief U.S. District Court Judge Mark E. Fuller (Middle District of Alabama) was caught lying to judicial investigators in 2016 about beating his wife and having sexual relations with courthouse personnel, Obama's DOJ never brought criminal charges against Fuller.

Most Americans now realize that the Mueller investigation was a politically motivated "witch-hunt" that cost taxpayers $25 million. It failed in the mission to take you down. However, the vestiges of the Comey-McCabe-Rosenstein-Mueller coup d'etat linger in the ongoing and costly cases brought by Mueller's team of "rogue" federal prosecutors. The money being spent on these continuing cases could be redirected toward the national effort to eradicate the new and extremely dangerous coronavirus that is sweeping the nation.

The Pardon Power

The U.S. Constitution gives you the power to issue pardons to deserving criminal defendants and inmates. This power is absolute. There is no requirement in the Constitution that you must first secure the approval of the DOJ to issue a pardon.

The Founders gave you the pardon power to correct manifest injustices in the federal criminal justice system. All of the presidents who preceded you in office were too weak, timid and/or scared to use this power the way it was meant to be used. When prior presidents did use the pardon power, they generally waited until the end of their term in office to avoid any potential blowback and political criticism. It is universally recognized among Americans that you are NOT a weak, timid, or politically scared president.

President Bill Clinton pardoned fugitive Marc Rich while he was on the run in Europe. He issued the pardon while Rich's voluptuous wife was visiting Clinton in the White House. The fast-tracked pardon was issued based upon Clinton's lust for Rich's wife and did not require any DOJ review of Rich's criminal case.

In addition to surviving the Comey-McCabe-Rosenstein-Mueller coup d'etat, you also thwarted an effort in 2018 to remove you from office under the disability clause of the 25th Amendment. "Anonymous" described this second coup d'etat plot in his September 5, 2018 Op-Ed article in the New York Times.

Then, you also survived a third coup d'etat when you defeated the Democratic effort to remove you from office in February's Senate impeachment trial.

No president in U.S. history has endured and defeated three successive coup d'etat attempts during his first three years in office. You did.

Seeking Justice for Army Private LaVena Johnson.

My critics and detractors will tell you I am seeking a pardon for my son and myself in the criminal case that landed us in a federal prison camp. This is not true.

Instead, I am seeking justice for the murder of 19-year-old Army Private LaVena Johnson, who was brutally killed on a military base in Balad, Iraq in July 2005. The Army quickly labeled Private Johnson's murder as a "suicide." In truth, Private Johnson was murdered by retired four-star general Kevin P. Byrnes after she inadvertently stumbled upon Byrnes and a female civilian employee on the base while they were engaged in the heat of passion. Gen. Byrnes, who was married at the time, had been previously ordered to end his extramarital affair by Peter J. Schoomaker, the then-Army Chief of Staff. Byrnes ignored this direct order.

Shortly after Private Johnson's murder, the top Commander for Iraqi Operations briefed President George W. Bush on Private Johnson's "suicide" (which was one of 85 suicides involving military personnel in 2005) during a classified briefing he gave to Bush in Washington that also included an update on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Following this briefing, Gen. Byrnes was promptly fired as a four-star general and was immediately expelled from the Army. Private Johnson's "suicide" file was then classified as a "national security" matter and sealed from public view.

Private Johnson's file remains sealed 15 years after her death. It requires the signature of the Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before this file is released to the media or public. You have the power to unseal this classified file and pursue justice in Private Johnson's case.

Gen. Byrnes is a friend of longtime Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, who was instrumental in getting the Pentagon files in Private Johnson's case sealed and in getting Byrnes an executive position with Raytheon after he was fired from the Army. In 2016, I published a series of articles titled, "The Murder of Private LaVena Johnson." The articles detail Private Johnson's murder and the Army's cover-up of her murder.

After my articles were published, Sen. Shelby used his considerable influence as a chairman and member of various Senate oversight committees to encourage the SEC, FBI, IRS, FDIC, and DOJ to conduct a coordinated Blitzkrieg investigation into every aspect of my life. This effort was aimed at undermining my credibility. Shelby also encouraged Jay Town (the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama) to prosecute me on wire fraud and mail fraud charges after a federal grand jury in New Jersey cleared me on the same charges in early 2016 based upon the same evidence.

Mr. Town was recommended to you for his position as U.S. Attorney because he openly campaigned in TV ads for Sen. Shelby. Jeff Sessions, who betrayed you, cleared Town on his background check. Town forum-shopped my criminal case to a federal judge in Birmingham, Alabama who was heavily influenced by Shelby and who was seeking redemption in the Birmingham community for her anti-prosecution handling of a very controversial high-profile criminal case in 2005.

Sen. Shelby is the chief protector of Private Johnson's murderer. Privately, he despises you. He thinks you are "scum" for the way you publicly humiliated Jeff Sessions. You should ignore Sen. Shelby on this matter. As the architect of the kind of deregulation in the airline manufacturing industry that allowed Boeing to certify the flight safety of its own aircraft, Shelby's hands are still dripping with the blood of the 346 victims from the Boeing 737 MAX crashes in October of 2018 and March of 2019.

I respectfully request that you take the following executive actions as president: First, order the DOJ to (a) investigate the murder of Army Private LaVena Johnson, (b) charge Kevin Byrnes with her murder, and (c) prosecute Byrnes to the fullest extent of the law. Second, you should call Private Johnson's parents and tell them their daughter did not commit suicide, as the Army falsely claimed. You should let Private Johnson's parents know that their daughter died at the hands of a rogue commander and that you will make sure criminal justice is served upon her murderer. Only you can give Private Johnson's parents and her military family members the peace of mind and closure they deserve.

President Barack Obama was not strong enough to pursue justice in Private Johnson's murder case. He was too busy seeking private bathroom rights in public schools for transgender Americans. You are uniquely suited for pursuing justice in Private Johnson's case. Please do it.

Sincerely,

Donald V. Watkins

Reg. No. 36223-001

Talladega, Alabama Federal prison Camp