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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

Trump rediscovered the presidential pardon on Tuesday, and promptly used it to lift up some real scumbags from the white collar crime rolls of the last few decades. While it’s not a shock coming from him, it could be a troubling sign of things to come if he decides to apply the same standard to himself.

Meanwhile, Pete Buttigieg gets caught in another awkward situation with a black community, overstating his ties with several black-owned businesses in South Carolina who said that the candidate had simply stopped by.

And lastly, the war in Syria has created a fresh wave of refugees, around 900,000 of who have fled their homes since December as the Syrian government and its Russian allies have waged indiscriminate war on civilian populations in the rebel-held province of Idlib.

Want a get out of jail free card? Turns out, all you have to do is be a white collar criminal from the past few decades.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump pardoned several prominent white collar criminals including the infamous junk bond scammer Michael Milken, former NYC police commissioner Bernard Kerik, over half a dozen others. He also commuted former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich’s sentence, for good measure.

If you’re curious, here’s a lightning fast who’s who of all the lucky crooks.

Mike Milken, a financier who got rich off selling junk bonds -- pardoned.

Former NYC Police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who also served as the Interior minister for Iraq during the Bush Junior years but later went to jail for tax fraud -- pardoned.

NFL owner Edward J. DeBartolo Jr, who was accused of sexual assault in the 90s and then got wrapped up in a corruption case involving a former governor of Louisiana later in the decade -- pardoned.

David Safavian, a federal procurement official under Bush Junior, who lied about his ties to lobbyists and obstructed a federal investigation -- pardoned.

And for good measure, the president issued clemency to six other people, as well as commuting the sentence for Rod Blagojevich, the former Democratic governor of Illinois, who was impeached and convicted on corruption charges for soliciting bribes for various political favors.

All in all, a real stunning group of fellas!

The New York Times notes that it’s possible Trump was swayed by his favorite TV network when making these decisions, as well as a list of influential Republican backers.

Most of the listed parties have appeared on Fox or tossed their cases around the right wing media machine, and it certainly paid off. Blagojevich was even a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice about a decade ago!

It also sets a pretty dangerous precedent. If Donald starts to get trigger happy with the pardons, all bets are off.

Trump has mentioned giving Roger Stone a pass for his crimes already. If the wealthy backers who encouraged him to dish out Tuesday’s pardons have their way, it’s pretty much a free pass to do crimes for as long as Trump’s in power.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice and you might have some job opportunities on Pete Buttigieg’s campaign staff, which has now made multiple gaffes with the black community over the support of celebrities and local leaders alike.

On Tuesday evening, ABC news reported on a pattern of the Buttigieg campaign mis-identifying people of color as quote “supporters,” when they were not, in fact, supporters. Curious!

The first instance of this came back in November, when the Buttigieg campaign convinced hundreds of black leaders to sign off on its key plan for investing in and empowering black Americans. But when the campaign promoted the plan, it made it sound like those leaders were endorsing the candidate, not the plan itself.

And the pattern continues: earlier this week, the Buttigieg campaign touted support from comedian Keegan-Michael Key, and then immediately had to walk it back when Key said he only appeared with Buttigieg to support early voting and voter registration, not make an endorsement.

In possibly the most comical incident, ABC news reported that the Buttigieg campaign was touting that it had quote “proudly partnered” with several local businesses in South Carolina. But when ABC called one of those businesses, Diane’s Kitchen, the owner, Diane Cole, said she quote “didn’t say I had a partnership.” endquote. ABC reports that after taking that quote back to Buttigieg’s team, the campaign frantically emailed Cole to try to get her in line with their language, misspelling her name in one of the emails. Cole wasn’t buying it, saying quote:

"It sounds like you're saying that I am your business partner. I'm only going to accept that you all stopped in while you were campaigning in South Carolina and I welcomed you all."

The campaign insists that these events are all misunderstandings, but then again, this is coming from the people who declared victory in Iowa with precisely zero results counted and again made it sound like they’d won New Hampshire when, in fact, they did not.

Anyway, if stopping somewhere for lunch makes you partners, then I’m about to pursue an exciting new business relationship with a halal cart later today.

**The dire humanitarian situation in Syria is once again escalating at a dramatic pace. **

Since December, close to 900,000 people have fled their homes in the country, which has been ripped apart by war for the better part of a decade.

Many of the new refugees are fleeing from Idlib province, one of the last sections of the country not under control of Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad. In recent weeks, Syrian government forces and their Russian allies have been pounding rebel fighters and civilians alike indiscriminately in the province, attempting to finally win the country’s bloody civil war.

Civilians fleeing this violence have mostly run north, toward the Turkish border, dramatically increasing the refugee crisis there. The Turkish border has been closed since 2015, although the country hosts more than three million Syrians who fled there early in the war.

Now, hundreds of thousands are huddled in rapidly-expanding camps at the border, many of them sleeping in the open because they lack adequate shelter. Meanwhile, the front line continues to push more civilians toward the Turkish border as Russian and Syrian government bombardment creeps in.

And the various heads of state involved aren’t making things any easier. The Turkish government has taken a macho posture against Syrian and Russian advancement, ratcheting up tensions in the region. Trump has backed Turkish president Erdogan, calling him a quote “tough guy.”

And while this all plays out, civilians continue to suffer, according to the Doctors Without Borders mission in Syria, whose leader told Bloomberg that attacks by Syrian government forces have now spread to areas civilians once thought were safe.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The startup tech industry has one of its first major unions! Employees at Kickstarter voted 46-37 in an NLRB election on Tuesday, solidifying their union after 18 months of negotiations with management.

A new study published in the peer-reviewed Nature Energy warns that extreme weather caused by climate change could spark a devastating financial recession, as markets have not sufficiently accounted for the risk that our ever-heating world faces.

Bernie Sanders jumped out to a double-digit lead in a national primary poll released by NBC News on Tuesday, solidifying his status as the Democratic frontrunner.

Indigenous activists in Canada continue to battle to stop a pipeline running over their traditional territory, sparking protests across the country that closed roadways, shut down railroads, and blockaded ports.

That’s all for the AM Quickie this morning. Catch the full majority report later this afternoon, wherever you find your podcasts.

#AMQuickie: Feb 19, 2020

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Jack Crosbie

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn