President Trump has the "absolute" power to pardon himself, he argued on Monday morning, then asked rhetorically why he would use it because he hasn't done anything wrong.
Trump made his assertion in a Twitter post following a weekend in which his administration made a sweeping case about executive power.
Just because Trump has the relevant powers doesn't mean he will use them, supporters said. All the same, the main check that his legal advisers see is a political one — the threat of backlash, as opposed to any limitation in law.
Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said in an interview on Sunday with ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos that Trump had "no intention" of a self-pardon and in a separate interview, on NBC's Meet the Press, he said that any such move would be "unthinkable" and might lead to impeachment.
"He has no intention of pardoning himself, but he probably — not to say he can't," Giuliani said. "I think the political ramifications would be tough. Pardoning other people is one thing, pardoning yourself is tough."
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05.17.2024