Trump Is Already Discussing Preemptive Pardons For His Lawless Administration
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
-
Pardon of Richard Nixon
12 min read
The most famous preemptive pardon in U.S. history, issued by Gerald Ford before Nixon faced any charges. Provides essential historical context for understanding the constitutional scope and political consequences of presidential pardons issued before prosecution.
-
Iran–Contra affair
13 min read
George H.W. Bush's pardons of Iran-Contra figures, including Caspar Weinberger before trial, established precedent for pardoning administration officials facing investigation. Directly relevant to discussions of shielding subordinates from accountability.
-
Unitary executive theory
18 min read
The constitutional theory underpinning arguments for broad presidential immunity and executive power. Understanding this legal doctrine helps readers grasp the framework being invoked when discussing whether presidential underlings can be held accountable.
Since he was sworn back into office nearly a year ago, Donald Trump and several administration officials have already informally discussed the idea of preemptively pardoning an array of Trump advisers, policymakers, and others who the president believes will likely be criminally investigated once Democrats are back in power, three sources with knowledge of the matter tell Zeteo.
The sources stress that the conversations – some of which included Trump, some of which were just among senior aides, federal appointees, and Republicans close to the White House – have been sporadic and preliminary. It is likely that any sweeping action of this sort would not occur until shortly before the inauguration of a future Democratic president-elect. If such action is taken, it is unclear how lengthy Trump’s preemptive-pardon list would ultimately run, though sources say that any list would likely include people such as White House official Stephen Miller, Trump’s policy architect who is behind many (if not all) of the actions and policies that critics have called out for being openly, gratuitously lawless.
Some of these intra-administration discussions were sparked, sources say, after certain Democrats publicly suggested that the Supreme Court gifted Trump with broad presidential immunity – but that his underlings were not shielded from accountability. “They’re not always going to be in office,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in October. “The people who serve for the president, including all the way down to ICE agents, can be held accountable when there’s a change of administration.”
This excerpt is provided for preview purposes. Full article content is available on the original publication.