"I have the absolute right to pardon myself" - Trump

[Cow Poke]

Giuliani said the other day that the president has that right and people threw a fit.

I think they were both testing the waters -- throw an idea out there to see what kind of reaction it gets.....

[Mountain Man]

I think they were both testing the waters -- throw an idea out there to see what kind of reaction it gets.....

Is that an idea that really needed to be tested? Of course the public would have a strong negative reaction to the idea of a criminally culpable president effectively exonerating himself.

[Cow Poke]

Is that an idea that really needed to be tested? Of course the public would have a strong negative reaction to the idea of a criminally culpable president effectively exonerating himself.

I think Rudy is really good at weighing his options.

[mikewhitney]

I think they were both testing the waters -- throw an idea out there to see what kind of reaction it gets.....

A reporter was baiting Giuliani whether the president would/could pardon himself. Someone wanted this to become part of the public discussion about Trump.

[Sparko]

[rogue06]

And yet nobody on the left batted an eye in 2016 when it was being floated about in the MSM that if elected Hillary could simply pardon herself if she were to be indited.

For instance Dan Abrams, a legal analyst for ABC News (where he spent a great deal of time prior to the election hand waving off all the evidence showing how corrupt Hillary was), did a piece on his website, Law and Crime (which discusses legal issues in the news) laying the groundwork for just such an occurrence called "If Hillary Is Indicted, President Clinton Could Pardon Herself and Congress Might be Helpless."

[shunyadragon]

This goes hand in hand with his belief in being above the law and devoted admiration of despotic absolute rule for life dictators.

[firstfloor]

Today Trump tweeted:

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!

Obviously we can note that it is not true at all that numerous legal scholars have said the president can pardon himself. Legal experts seem to range from "you've got to be kidding me" to "it's never been tested in court, but I doubt it would work".

But we seem to be getting to the stage where Trump's ready to try something extreme like this. Do you guys support self-pardoning?

nemo iudex in sua causa, "no-one should be a judge in his own case."

[NorrinRadd]

A reporter was baiting Giuliani whether the president would/could pardon himself. Someone wanted this to become part of the public discussion about Trump.

Yeah, in the time since posting #14, I heard that. I think it was FChuck Todd.

[NorrinRadd]

Today Trump tweeted:

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!

Obviously we can note that it is not true at all that numerous legal scholars have said the president can pardon himself. Legal experts seem to range from "you've got to be kidding me" to "it's never been tested in court, but I doubt it would work".

But we seem to be getting to the stage where Trump's ready to try something extreme like this. Do you guys support self-pardoning?

FTR, Turley seemed to generally agree that "many" legal scholars hold the view, and placed himself among them.

[NorrinRadd]

nemo iudex in sua causa, "no-one should be a judge in his own case."

I think that's the logic Judge Andrew My Cousin Vinny Napolitano used in saying POTUS canNOT self-pardon. That's an interesting view for someone who usually seems to be a "textualist" regarding the Constitution; that is assumed philosophical background to the Constitution, rather than anything explicitly stated in the document itself.