Donald Trump’s Final Pardons: Why The President Was Not Granted

With less than 12 hours remaining in the White House, Donald Trump finally revealed exactly who he was forgiving.

The rumor mill was in overdrive: Trump would preemptively pardon himself and his children to protect them from any kind of legal action in the future.

However, the outgoing president did not take this unprecedented and legally questionable step.

Trump granted full pardons to 73 people and commuted the sentences of another 70 people.

According to David Gray Adler, an American constitutional law scholar and president of the pro-democracy nonprofit The Alturas Institute, Trump effectively lost the ability to forgive himself when he was indicted a second time earlier this month.

The Pardon Clause of the United States Constitution states that the President may grant pardons for crimes against the United States, “except in cases of impeachment.”

The clause prevents Trump from pardoning anyone, including himself as president, who is subject to impeachment.

Impeachment charges are inexcusable in the US, and a presidential pardon does not extend to potential state charges, either.

“Such a self-pardon will be of limited utility given the kinds of legal challenges that Trump may be forced to face,” Adler wrote in an article for CNN.

“A presidential pardon does not extend to state crimes, which means he could still face charges stemming from state and municipal investigations currently underway in New York.”

Even if Trump wanted to forgive himself, the case would likely go to the Supreme Court, a court that relies heavily on historical evidence and arguments.

Given that there is no evidence in the Constitution or in any American legal history to support “the existence of such amazing power, or any claim to that effect by a single convention delegate, Trump’s premise of self-forgiveness it should be so ridiculous. ” to strict and lax constructionists in any court as their claim that the president is endowed with ‘absolute’ power, ”argues Adler.

The riot in the US Capitol on January 6 was an example of how Trump tried to assert his “absolute power” in Washington DC, according to Adler.

However, it was an attempt that backfired because Trump became the first president in American history to be indicted twice.

Adler described the second impeachment charges as a “hit in a court of law.”

Five people were killed in the United States Capitol riots, which saw thousands of Trump supporters storming and vandalizing the government building.

White House sources previously said that Trump has privately discussed with his advisers whether he should take the extraordinary step of granting himself a pardon.

The source, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said that so far Trump does not plan to forgive himself and also does not plan to issue preventive pardons for members of his family, another issue he has discussed privately with advisers.

Some administration officials warned Trump against self-forgiveness because it would make him look guilty.

Many scholars have said that a self-pardon would be unconstitutional because it violates the basic principle that no one should be the judge in their own case.

Others have argued that a self-pardon is constitutional because the power of forgiveness is spelled out very broadly in the Constitution.

Historical texts made it clear that the nation’s founders in the 18th century discussed self-forgiveness, but chose not to include an explicit limitation on that power.

Trump was indicted last week by the Democratic-led House of Representatives for inciting the assault on the United States Capitol.

His case will face a trial in the Senate and, if convicted, he could be disqualified from seeking another run for president in 2024.