Trump Before Sex Scandal & Tax Evasion Lawsuit, ‘Self Forgiveness’ Before Retirement?

There are observations that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, is likely to “ forgive himself ” with two months remaining in office. President Trump has been involved in lawsuits on various charges ranging from “ tormented by sex scandals ” to tax evasion.

The Reuters news agency reported on the 8th (local time) that President Trump could abuse his pardon at the end of his power and make a self-pardon. President Trump said he had pardoned Roger Stone, an aide who had been jailed after being involved in the ‘Russian scandal’, in July before the presidential election.

President Trump was involved in several lawsuits for tax evasion, insurance fraud, falsification of private documents, and suspected sex scandals. President Trump has been exercising his privilege to waive criminal prosecution for being a sitting president, but may face investigation after his retirement.

Generally, the president exercises pardon only for defendants, but the current US judicial system allows him to exercise pardon even before prosecution, Reuters said. That is why President Trump can abuse his pardon before a court ruling is issued or processed. In fact, President Trump insisted on Twitter in June 2018 that “I have the absolute power to forgive myself, as many jurists have said.”

However, since the “amnesty itself” is unprecedented, controversies over the constitution can arise. For this reason, some observers say that President Trump may step down shortly before his term ends, hand over presidential powers to Vice President Mike Pence, and ask him to exercise his pardon. In 1974, when President Richard Nixon faced an impeachment crisis due to the ‘Watergate Incident’, he resigned immediately before voting on the impeachment bill.

“It’s not clear what Vice President Pence will get if Trump pardons President Trump,” said Cory Breschneider, a professor of political science at Brown University.