November 13, 2020 4:00:14 pm
Possibly anticipating legal issues, Trump has been asking his aides if he can forgive himself since 2017, according to a CNN report. In fact, an official told the news network that Trump was “obsessed with the power of pardons.” (Photo: Reuters)
With Donald Trump’s presidency entering its final weeks, the former businessman and television personality is expected to make full use of the outgoing presidential tradition of granting pardons. Some fear that the president of the United States will exercise his expansive power to forgive some of his closest aides, family members, and perhaps even himself.
Trump, who faces a number of legal challenges, including multiple lawsuits and allegations of fraud, will no longer have the broad legal protections of the presidency once he formally leaves the White House on January 20.
Possibly avoiding these legal problems, Trump has been asking his aides if he can forgive himself since 2017, according to a CNN report. In fact, an official told the news network that Trump was “obsessed with the power of pardons.”
How does the presidential pardon work?
All modern presidents of the United States have the constitutional right to pardon or commute the sentences of persons who have violated federal laws. The United States Supreme Court had held that this power “is granted without limit” and cannot be restricted by Congress.
The president has the power to pardon people for almost any crime committed in the country. You are not responsible for your pardons and you do not even have to give a reason for issuing one. But there are some limitations.
For example, the president cannot grant a pardon in case of impeachment of officials. Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution says that all presidents “shall have the power to grant pardons and pardons for crimes against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”
Also, the power of attorney only applies to federal and non-state crimes. So even if he were pardoned in some way, President Trump would still have to face state investigations into his finances and business.
But since the president’s clemency powers are so broad, Trump, like many presidents before him, can forgive his friends and family without issue. This happened earlier this year, when he commuted the prison sentence of his longtime ally Roger Stone, who was convicted of lying to Congress and tampering with witnesses in 2019.
But Trump is not the first president to issue such selfish pardons. On his last day in office, former President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger Clinton on drug charges after serving his entire sentence more than a decade earlier. Former President George HW Bush pardoned six former officials for their role in the Iran-Contra scandal, in which Bush himself was suspected of involvement in a crime. 📣 Click to follow Express Explained on Telegram
So can Trump forgive himself?
Since no president has ever tried to forgive himself in the country’s history, the courts have yet to assess the legality of the issue at hand. Despite this, Trump has insisted over the years that he has the “absolute right” to forgive himself.
As many jurists have stated, I have the absolute right to FORGIVE ME, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? Meanwhile, the never-ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very angry and conflicting Democrats (and others) continues on the in-between terms!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2018
According to a Washington Post report, Trump’s legal team even examined the legalities of the president pardoning himself and his family should anything particularly incriminating emerged from the Russia investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller in 2017. .
Experts argue that self-forgiveness is unconstitutional as it violates the basic principle that no one should be the judge in their own case. A 1974 memo from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel echoed this sentiment: “Under the fundamental rule that no one can be a judge in his own case, the president cannot forgive himself.”
The memo was issued just before former President Richard Nixon resigned after facing impeachment proceedings for his role in the Watergate scandal. His successor and former vice president, Gerald Ford, later pardoned him for any federal crimes he may have committed while in office.
Can Vice President Mike Pence forgive Trump?
While the Justice Department said that Nixon could not forgive himself, it also set out an alternative that President Trump could also opt for: The president could temporarily resign, receive a pardon from his vice president, and then regain power.
The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution allows an incapacitated president to resign temporarily and hand over the reins to the vice president, who will act on his behalf until he returns to office.
There is a remote possibility that Trump will resign before Opening Day after negotiating a corrupt deal with Vice President Pence. Pence would become the 46th president and could use his presidential power to pardon Trump.
But such a deal could land Trump in more trouble. For starters, it would violate the US federal bribery statute, which states that a public official can face criminal charges if he or she “demands, seeks, receives, accepts or agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally or for Anyone. another person or entity ”in exchange for“ being influenced in the execution of any official act ”. A deal like this would also appear to be a blatant admission of guilt.
Would a presidential pardon protect Trump completely?
No I would not. Since a presidential pardon only applies to federal crimes, it will not be able to protect Trump and the Trump Organization from the criminal investigation being conducted by the Manhattan district attorney, who is a state attorney. The investigation is looking into possible bank and insurance fraud by Trump and his companies.
But a presidential pardon will erase a criminal conviction for any possible federal crime. Legal experts say it makes more sense for Trump to go this route as a defense if convicted of a federal crime.
What are the presidential pardons that Trump has already issued?
President Trump has issued a series of controversial presidential pardons since he was elected. In 2017, he pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was found guilty of contempt of court for ignoring a federal judge’s order to stop arresting immigrants based solely on suspicion that they were illegally residing in the United States.
He has also pardoned the likes of right-wing commentator and campaign con artist Dinesh D’Souza, and Michael Milken, a financier convicted of securities fraud.
But not all of his forgiveness was problematic. Some were even widely celebrated. Earlier this year, he granted a full pardon to Alice Marie Johnson, who received a life sentence for a drug offense for the first time and whose concerns were first raised by businesswoman and reality TV star Kim Kardashian West.
In 2018, he issued a posthumous pardon to boxer Jack Johnson, who was jailed more than a hundred years ago for violating the racist ‘White Slave Traffic Act’ by crossing state lines with a white woman.
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