# Take a guess at who Trump will pardon today **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 19, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881 "2021-01-19T13:45:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/21 "2021-01-20T02:46:43Z")
I’ve been wondering the same thing. My current theory is that they will be announced at 11:45 am from the airplane en route to wherever he is going. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/22 "2021-01-20T02:50:38Z")
> [@Dr.Colossus](#): > > Is there a reason we don’t know any of the pardons yet? I’m picturing the CFSG sitting at his desk, snickering about how the MSM will react to his pronouncement, wiping his greasy brow and muttering profane utterances. That’s what keeps me going. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/23 "2021-01-20T03:02:08Z")
GAH. I saw an announcement posted elsewhere from the office of the White House Press Secretary that there will be a press conference at 5 a.m. (which would presumably be when the pardons are announced?) before the Trumps depart for Palm Beach at 8 a.m. I went looking for the source and make the mistake of looking at [Whitehouse.gov](http://Whitehouse.gov), and now I want to throw up. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/24 "2021-01-20T03:06:23Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > I’ve been wondering the same thing. My current theory is that they will be announced at 11:45 am from the airplane en route to wherever he is going. I was wondering why they hadn’t been announced yet but it makes sense they will be announced tomorrow to try to distract attention from the inauguration. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/25 "2021-01-20T03:20:20Z")
He cant. Sirhan was convicted of state charges. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/26 "2021-01-20T03:40:14Z")
Himself, his family, Rudy Giuliani, nobody else. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/27 "2021-01-20T03:42:10Z")
Not himself, not his family, and certainly not Rudy. Not the failed insurrectionists of Jan 6 Lil kim and a bunch of other non-entities. ---
**Author:** ![CoconutPete](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coconutpete/32/5294_2.png) [@CoconutPete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoconutPete)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/28 "2021-01-20T03:49:25Z")
There was a story in the news saying Joe Exotic has rented a stretch limo outside the prison, apparently expecting a pardon. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/29 "2021-01-20T03:58:03Z")
It looks like Steve Bannon is going to get a pardon… ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/30 "2021-01-20T04:00:10Z")
> [@solost](#): > > sad trumpet sound… _WAH whaa_ Sad Trumpist Sound ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/31 "2021-01-20T04:04:17Z")
If Trump wanted to pull off one more “Screw you!”, he would issue full pardons to Hillary Clinton and maybe Joe Biden. His Trumpettes would have a field day with that move. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/32 "2021-01-20T04:15:35Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > My current theory is that they will be announced at 11:45 am from the airplane en route to wherever he is going. Remember, though, that there’s precedent that if a President can intercept a pardon issued by his predecessor before it is delivered to the recipient, it can be reversed (In re De Puy). I can entirely imagine the Federal Marshal or whomever is charged with delivering a pardon to any controversial recipients slow walking the papers to the recipient while keeping their cell phone ringer turned up to max volume. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/33 "2021-01-20T04:38:36Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > Remember, though, that there’s precedent that if a President can intercept a pardon issued by his predecessor before it is delivered to the recipient, it can be reversed (In re De Puy). I can entirely imagine the Federal Marshal or whomever is charged with delivering a pardon to any controversial recipients slow walking the papers to the recipient while keeping their cell phone ringer turned up to max volume. I suspect that in these modern times “delivered to the recipient” would be the key phrase. Does e-mail count? Does it have to be delivered to the actual person or does his lawyer count? What about FedEx? Lots of questions now that didn’t exist in 1869. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/34 "2021-01-20T04:50:21Z")
I was able to find a [Congressional Research Service (CRS) report](https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R44571.html#_Toc489616972) from 2016 on the pardon that says, “For a pardon to become legally effective, it appears that a warrant of pardon must be physically delivered to the recipient . . . Under the current DOJ regulations, a warrant of pardon is mailed to the petitioner.” As I said, I can easily see the bureaucrat to whom Trump hands the pardons setting them in his outbox and waiting for Biden’s folks to tell him how to proceed. Or, Trump being Trump, he may just leave them on his desk himself and assume that all is done. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/35 "2021-01-20T04:56:43Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > It looks like Steve Bannon is going to get a pardon… FUCK. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/36 "2021-01-20T04:58:28Z")
Carter pardoned all the draft dodgers, who weren’t explicitly named. They couldn’t have delivered pieces of paper to unnamed people. > **[President Pardons Viet Draft Evaders](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/01/22/president-pardons-viet-draft-evaders/dfa064a5-83fc-4efb-a904-d72b390a909e/)** ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/37 "2021-01-20T05:04:07Z")
What if… trump just announces. “Pardons for every single person convicted of a federal crime in the past 19 years. Thank you and goodbye “. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/38 "2021-01-20T05:07:09Z")
That would guarantee that Senate Republicans would vote to convict him on impeachment and bar him from office in the future. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/39 "2021-01-20T05:08:31Z")
The [DOJ instructions](https://www.justice.gov/pardon/vietnam-war-era-pardon-instructions) for draft evaders is basically, “If you think this applies to you, let us know and we’ll mail you your pardon.” Since no subsequent President has tried to rescind these pardons, it hasn’t been an issue. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2021, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881/40 "2021-01-20T05:16:55Z")
NYT just told me the pardon of Steve Bannon has been issued. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/take-a-guess-at-who-trump-will-pardon-today/930881.md?page=3)