Scores of clemency cases expected in final day of Trump presidency

Photo Illustration by Alex Cochran

While the Constitution doesn’t clearly say whether presidents can pardon themselves, Trump could be the first president in history to try

Can presidents pardon themselves? We may find out this year.

President Donald Trump is expected to spend some of his final hours in the White House exercising his Constitutional clemency powers — which could include an unprecedented pardoning of his own alleged misdeeds.

White House aides have said that they are preparing pardons or commutations for more than 100 people before he leaves office Wednesday, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Pardons directly forgive a federal crime and commutations shorten the penalty of a crime without forgiving the conviction.

And with the twilight of his tenure drawing near, Trump has also discussed pardoning himself, The New York Time reported. The outgoing president could face federal legal exposure in the deadly riot at the Capitol earlier this month and a federal investigation in New York.

“We are looking at all actors here, and anyone that had a role, if the evidence fits the element of a crime, they’re going to be charged,” a U.S. attorney in Washington responded when asked if Trump was being investigated as part of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the Post reported.

Presidential clemency powers say the president “shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment,” according to the National Constitution Center. Trump has been impeached, or charged, twice but he was acquitted of charges in his first impeachment and is awaiting a possible Senate trial on his second impeachment.

The Constitution doesn’t specially outline if presidents have the authority to pardon themselves and none have ever tried. While some constitutional scholars argue that a self-pardon is unconstitutional — counter to the idea that someone should not be their own judge — others say that the Constitution was left intentionally vague, according to Reuters.

Controversial presidential pardons are not uncommon and modern American history has many recent examples.

President Gerald Ford pardoned a resigned President Richard Nixon for Watergate crimes, President Bill Clinton pardoned his own brother of a drug crime and President Barrack Obama commuted the federal prison sentence of a Wikileaks leaker Chelsea Manning, according to the National Constitution Center

Julio Cortez, Associated Press

In this Friday, Nov. 15, 2019, file photo, Roger Stone exits federal court Washington. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020, issued pardons and sentence commutations for 29 people, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, in the latest burst of clemency in his final weeks at the White House. Also receiving a pardon is Stone, another longtime Trump associate caught up in the probe of Russia and the Trump campaign.

Trump’s past acts of clemency include pardoning longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone, former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and several American soldiers and military contractors convicted of war crimes.

This story will be updated when pardons and commutations are announced.

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