President Donald Trump has presented a legal puzzle to special counsel Robert Mueller: The Constitution says the President can pardon anybody—thus he can pardon himself.
Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, made it clear the President has no intention to actually pardon himself, but the revelation of that power to do so strengthens the argument of Trump’s legal team that he didn’t obstruct justice.
Mueller was appointed to look into whether the Russian Government interfered in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with any such effort. After a year of investigation, Mueller hasn’t produced proof of any such collusion and appears to have shifted towards a search for evidence that Trump impeded the investigation.
The pardon issue was brought up by The New York Times after two confidential memos sent by Trump’s lawyers to Mueller were leaked to the paper, which published them on Saturday.
“It remains our position that the President’s actions here, by virtue of his position as the chief law enforcement officer, could neither constitutionally nor legally constitute obstruction because that would amount to him obstructing himself, and that he could, if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon if he so desired,” the January memo stated.
It’s not clear what the full context of the statement was, because it refers, among other things, to a Jan. 8 conversation between Trump’s lawyers and the Mueller team. The New York Times speculated it may mean that Trump could pardon himself.
“He’s not [going to pardon himself], but he probably does [have the power],” Giuliani said. “He has no intention of pardoning himself but he probably does.”
He called it an interesting constitutional question.
“It would probably get answered by, ‘Gosh, that’s what the Constitution says and if you want to change it, change it, but yes.’”
It’s has been interpreted to apply to federal offenses, not to the breaking of state laws.
No President has attempted to pardon himself, but some lawyers have opined on the topic.
Clinton’s counsel, Charles Ruff, was even explicitly asked to give an assurance that “Clinton will not pardon himself or that he will not accept a pardon from any presidential successor.”
Ruff agreed.