Donald Trump wants to grant himself a presidential pardon: possible or not?
Never short of an implausible idea, within days of the end of his mandate, the American president has seized the possibility of pardoning whomever he wishes. And even considers granting himself a pardon that would absolve him of all his criminal faults. Possible?
Make forgiveness a deal. A lucrative market. This is what Donald Trump and his close associates are working on a few days before the end of his term as head of the United States, reveals the New York Times. What does it consist of?
It’s very simple: an American president can deliver his pardon before or after any charge or conviction. And it goes way back: to 1866, exactly, when the Supreme Court ruled on this possibility, asserting that the power of pardon extends to all known offenses of the law and can be exercised at any time, that is before any legal proceedings are initiated, either during or after conviction and judgment.
It is certainly unusual for a president to issue a potential pardon before charges are laid, but there are examples: the most famous of these is President Gerald Ford's 1974 pardon in favor of Richard. Nixon to prevent him from being prosecuted after the Watergate scandal.
170 pardons and commutations of sentence
Is Trump the first to run the forgiveness market? No. In 2000, shortly before leaving office, President Bill Clinton issued a series of controversial pardons, including to his half-brother, Roger Clinton, for a cocaine conviction in 1985 for which he had served about a year in prison, and Susan H. McDougal, a former Clinton business partner who was jailed in connection with the Whitewater Inquiry.
In the final hours of his administration, Clinton had also issued 170 pardons and commutations of sentence, some of which went to people paying six-figure sums to his family and associates. That said - even though many observers felt he flouted protocol - Bill Clinton primarily rewarded those who had gone through an intensive Justice Department review process designed to examine the most deserving recipients out of the thousands. requests for leniency.
With Donald Trump, none of that. Its lobbyists and lawyers shoot all over the place and simply canvass the best clients - let's be short: the closest (Republicans if possible, therefore) and the richest. Loot collected: hundreds of thousands of dollars. Objective: to exceed 100 graces before this Wednesday and the end of Trump's chaotic mandate.
Staggering tales
The New York Times questioned about 40 direct witnesses - lobbyists and lawyers, in fact. Their stories are staggering.
This kind of out-of-bounds influence peddling, this system of special privileges, all of this only offers contempt for ordinary people who, in turn, abide by the rules of the Department of Justice in terms of forgiveness, and constitute a fundamental violation. long-standing efforts to at least bring this fair process to light, says Margaret Love, who led the Department of Justice's leniency process from 1990 to 1997 as a United States prosecutor.
So Brett Tolman, a former federal prosecutor who advised the White House on pardons and sentence commutations, largely monetized the White House's mercy, raising tens of thousands of dollars, and possibly more, these recent weeks for the son of a former Arkansas senator, the founder of the famous online drug market Silk Road and a Manhattan businessman who pleaded guilty to a fraud scheme.
Thus, John M. Dowd, Trump's former personal attorney, presented himself before several convicted persons as someone who could obtain pardons due to his close relationship with the president, also accepting tens of thousands of dollars of a rich businessman.
A former senior Trump campaign adviser was awarded $ 50,000 to help with the clemency petition for John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer convicted of unlawfully disclosing classified information, and accepted an additional bounty of $ 50,000 if the president granted it, according to the agreement signed between them.
For his part, Trump's personal lawyer, Rudolph Giuliani, is also said to be canvassing several personalities in trouble with the law, but the FBI has reportedly been warned by a witness, putting an end to these transactions.
A possible violation of corruption laws
As it should be pointed out, there are very few regulations or transparency requirements governing presidential leniency grants or lobbying in their favor. And while there is nothing illegal about Trump aides being paid for this, any explicit offer to pay back to the president could be investigated: it could constitute a possible violation. corruption laws. But so far, no evidence has emerged that Donald Trump has been officially offered money in exchange for a pardon.
Alongside this highly profitable forgiveness market, Donald Trump is trying to benefit his loved ones - his children, his son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, and his lawyer Rudolph Giuliani ... and even himself.
After the vote of his impeachment by the House of Representatives for having incited his supporters to march on the Capitol, and the about-face of many Republican leaders who let go one after the other, the power of grace remains indeed one Trump's last chance for swift and effective unilateral action.
Three fundamental questions
Which raises three fundamental questions.
Can a president forgive his relatives, his collaborators, his political or financial allies? Yes. The U.S. Constitution does not prohibit pardons that raise the appearance of personal interest or a conflict of interest, even though they may provoke violent political backlash and result in banishment. public and shameful. But, as we saw earlier with Bill Clinton, it has already been done in the past.
Can a president issue a general pardon, a sort of absolute weapon that allows the advance to protect itself against any possible indictment? According to the New York Times, the answer to this question is unclear. However, usually pardons are worded in a way that specifically describes the crimes or sets of activities to which they apply. There is little precedent for the extent to which a pardon can be used to exclude criminal liability for anything and everything.
Finally, can a president forgive himself? Again, the answer is not obvious. For one simple reason: So far in the United States, no president has ever attempted to grant himself a pardon. As a result, the US Supreme Court has never had the opportunity to consider this issue, so to rule on it.
In the absence of any precedent, legal experts are therefore divided on the subject. Those close to Donald Trump, on the other hand, did not seem surprised by a final maneuver that would be laughable if it were not so pitiful and fraught with meaning. I expected it, simply said a White House official.
It is true that with Trump, you can expect anything.
