Presidential pardon authority is quite broad.
Nixon was pardoned without being charged. Vietnam draft dodgers were pardoned en mass, with no one specifically named AFAIK.
Why can’t you say”Pardon me! That is, I grant MYSELF pardon for any (federal) crime anybody at any time in any universe might suppose me guilty of. Also, please pardon me for that dangling participle. “
And pardon me for farting while I signed it.
The pardon power is a bug in the Constitution. We don’t know if a president can pardon himself, you can find experts who disagree. I’d go for an amendment stating that the president cannot pardon himself or family members and cannot be pardoned by a succeeding president finishing out his term.
There’s no prescribed formulation for a pardon, so if Trump really does pardon himself, he’s free to word it in a way that casts himself in the best possible light. Heck, he doesn’t even have to use the word “pardon”, or any other words that insinuate he might actually be guilty of any wrongdoing. If he wanted to be vague, he might simply say, “As President, I hereby invoke the power accorded to me under Article 2, Clause 1 of our Constitution. This invocation covers all actions of mine up to the present moment.” But he could, if he wanted to, go on to explain how he is taking this action only to head off the scurrilous and illegal barratry of the Democrats and their Deep State allies, etc.
Sure, it’s an easy, cheap distraction on a low news day. And, it embeds his name in all discussions of Presidential history, right beside being impeached.
It seems he is really keen to try:
I’d be I favor of a preventing a president from pardoning anyone in his administration during his current term. He either needs to wait until the next election cycle or hope his successor does it.
Of course he’s not going to say that.
He doesn’t know what barratry is.
I know! I know!
You put 'em in flashlights and toys, right?
I’m frankly surprised he hasn’t done it already. Can there be sealed or secret pardons?
If he pardons himself right now, he might still do something illegal between now and Jan 20th. A self pardon will be literally his final act, so he will be covered right up to his last moments as president.
Nah, he’ll frame it as protecting himself from the Hateful Democrats who would do anything to throw him in prison.
As for the self-pardon, I think it’s a near-certainty. It’s still up in the air if a self-pardon is even legal, but what does he have to lose? If the Supreme Court accepts it as legitimate, it’s a get out of Federal Jail free card. If the SC says he can’t do that, he’s no worse off than he would have been without trying it. A potentially huge win with no possible loss is a pretty good bet to make.
What if –
He pardons himself, and then no future administration attempts to charge him with any crime (pursuant to the tradition that in America, we don’t throw past presidents in jail)? The result is that the self-pardon never gets challenged in any court. Would this lead to the self-pardon becoming an accepted legitimized process?
I’m thinking that if Trump self-pardons, then the Biden administration MUST prosecute and persecute Trump at least until some case reaches the Supreme Court so the self-pardon can be tested.
he will justify it by saying the charges are bogus and part of the witch hunt against him
Doing it now could also adversely affect the Georgia senate races. I honestly think that Trump doesn’t care about them but other people in his circle do.
Nah.
It just means it remains an unanswered question until a court (probably the Supreme Court) makes a ruling.
And that’s why Biden should push to charge him if he self-pardons. This is the sort of question you really shouldn’t leave unanswered. If the answer is no, you can’t do that, it will make the next conman think twice about running for President. If the answer is yes, you can do that, then this is information the public needs the next time a conman runs for President.
There’s been a lot of rumor and insinuation going around about Trump being interested in a run in 2024. How would a self (or Pence-enabled) pardon play into the calculus on that? I can’t see that being a bonus during a Presidential run. The base is locked in, but around the margins that can hurt.
On the other hand, it does keep him from having to defend himself from Federal accusations between now and '24.
My final thought is that it doesn’t matter if Biden’s AG should or shouldn’t pursue charges against the Orange Huckster, all that matters is if the OH thinks he will. And since he (the OH) would, he’ll assume anybody would.
Fold it all together and I say he goes for it and issues the pardon.
But I hope I’m wrong.
There’s another interesting fact about receiving a pardon. My understanding is that once a person has received a pardon, they cannot invoke the Fifth Amendment because nothing they say can self-incriminate them.
So the House should conduct a broad-based hearing on illegal activity that occurred during the Trump presidency and campaign. And put Trump on the stand to testify along with his family members and cronies. And they should be intensively questioned about issues like Russian aid, accepting of bribes, mismanagement, contacts with militia groups, etc.
If they’re pardoned, they can’t refuse to answer. They’ll have to testify about everything they’ve been doing in the last five years. That should be an eye-opener for the people who have been drinking the koolaid.
And if they try to cover things up and lie, they’ll be committing perjury. Which will be a new crime not covered under any pardon Trump issued during his presidency.
@Little_Nemo, that’s my understanding as well. IANAL.
Doubtless they would invoke executive privilege and not talk.