Trump incited to “stop the theft” of the elections. Then came the assault on the Capitol. Photo: Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
By: EFE 07 from January 2020
NEW YORK – Outgoing President Donald Trump has recently spoken with several aides about the possibility of preemptively pardoning himself , in order to avoid possible investigations once he leaves the White House, as reported by The New York Times (NYT) on Thursday.
The newspaper, which cites two anonymous sources with knowledge of the conversations, points out that Trump has drawn the issue to surface several times since his electoral defeat and has asked members of his team on the legal and political effects that the measure could have.
According to the NYT, it is not clear if the president has returned to address the issue after the assault of his supporters on the Capitol this Wednesday , which occurred after T himself rump encouraged them to go to the headquarters of the legislature to report an alleged electoral fraud that claims without providing evidence.
For a president to pardon himself would be something unprecedented in the history of the United States, but Trump has already spoken in public repeatedly about that option , defending that he has the “absolute right” to do so, something that many experts question.
The Republican leader raised this option especially during the investigation of the so-called Russian plot, which investigated the alleged ties between Russia and his campaign in the elections of 2016.
The case was closed without Trump being charged with any crime, due to regulations of the Department of Justice that establish that a head of state cannot be imputed while in power.
However, the f special prosecutor of the case, Robert Mueller, insisted at all times that the president was not exonerated, which means that he could potentially be prosecuted when he leaves the White House.
According to some analysts, Trump could also face some kind of responsibility before the Justice for pressuring Georgia’s highest electoral authority to manipulate the results of the November elections or for inciting violence in the assault on the Capitol.
>> Charles Schumer asks to apply the Amendment 25 to impeach Trump After his defeat in the elections, Trump has already forgiven General Mic hael T. Flynn, his first national security adviser and who pleaded guilty to having lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russian agents, and two other people involved in the same plot.
Also, according to the NYT, the outgoing president is considering pretrial pardons for several members of his family – including his sons Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump -, for the latter’s husband and White House adviser, Jared Kushner, and for other close figures such as Trump’s lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani.
Presidential pardons apply to federal cases, so they would not affect investigations for possible violations of state laws, like the one open in New York against Trump for alleged financial irregularities of his company.
In all of history, the only state president The United States who received a pardon was Richard Nixon, who obtained it from his former vice president, Gerald Ford, a month after leaving power and covering all possible crimes committed during his presidency, marked by the “Watergate” scandal.