# Presidental pardon for those not yet charged?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidental-pardon-for-those-not-yet-charged/772159>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 16, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidental-pardon-for-those-not-yet-charged/772159 "2016-11-16T14:10:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Oddball\_92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b3f665/32.png) [@Oddball\_92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oddball_92)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidental-pardon-for-those-not-yet-charged/772159/1 "2016-11-16T14:10:58Z")

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I have seen some news media propaganda about obama pardoning clinton. That leads me to a question. Can a president pardon someone who has not yet been charged with a crime?

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**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidental-pardon-for-those-not-yet-charged/772159/2 "2016-11-16T14:20:20Z")

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Sure - see Ford’s pardon of Nixon - [Proclamation 4311 - Wikisource, the free online library](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Proclamation_4311)

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**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidental-pardon-for-those-not-yet-charged/772159/3 "2016-11-16T14:21:27Z")

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IANAL.

President Ford pardoned Nixon as well as Carter’s pardon of Vietnam War draft evaders who had not yet been charged. So precedent seems to say that a preemptive pardon is within the president’s purview.

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**Author:** ![Oddball\_92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b3f665/32.png) [@Oddball\_92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oddball_92)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidental-pardon-for-those-not-yet-charged/772159/4 "2016-11-16T16:07:58Z")

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Thanks, I had forgotton about Nixon.