Donald Trump has been trying vociferously to change the presidential election outcome, but President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in and inaugurated in January. Biden won Arizona and the state’s coveted eleven electoral votes, thus vindicating the Associated Press and Fox News for calling it previously for the former vice president. David Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Report called it on Twitter, writing, “I’ve seen enough. We’re at a Biden 306-232 Electoral vote margin entering any recounts, and I’ve never seen a recount overturn leads of the magnitude Biden enjoys in AZ/GA/WI.”
Trump knows it’s over, too. He’s putting on an act to please his base, though, while at the same time, he’s lining his pockets with donations from his followers. The former reality show star has a lot to be worried about with election lawsuits are being thrown out of court each day, and recount efforts haven’t helped the president.
Trump is in a dilemma, but he’s trying to dig himself a way out, perhaps via a self-pardon. As it happens, Trump has been asking aides since 2017 if he can self-pardon, according to CNN. That’s rather stunning because it means that one of his first questions after being inaugurated is whether he can get away with crime-y stuff, but OK.
And according to Vanity Fair’s Bess Levin, Donald has been asking whether he can “preemptively” pardon himself, as well as issue pardons for his family members.
According to one former White House official, Trump has also asked about pardons for his family, which makes sense given that they work together at the Trump Organization and possibly engaged in various forms of tax fraud together, among other things. Perhaps most incredibly, Trump reportedly “even asked if he could issue pardons preemptively for things people could be charged with in the future,” said the former official. Y’know, like a get-out-of-jail-free card for life just in case you decide to commit a crime at any point in the future.
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Trump doesn’t sound guilty at all (wink wink). Now, the question is whether a president can self-pardon himself. And the answer to that is maybe. It would be an unprecedented move and one that would likely end up in court, possibly not in his favor.
There’s always a tweet:
As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2018
President Richard Nixon’s attorney tried to take that road during the Watergate scandal, suggesting that a self-pardon would be legal. However, the Department of Justice issued a memorandum opinion on August 5, 1974, stating that a president cannot pardon himself. And it wouldn’t look good for Trump, thus further exposing himself to his base. It’s never been done before, but Trump is good at losing court cases, so you be you, Mr. Trump. The president could resign and have Mike Pence pardon him, but that might create another narcissistic injury.
You can read the full report here.
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr, under Creative Commons license 2.0
