Don’t Pardon Yourself – Officials Warn Trump

• Insist such move ’ll signpost guilt

With inauguration activities for Joe Biden’s presidency nearing a crescendo about 23 hours away, White House officials are warning outgoing President Donald Trump to resist the temptation of self-pardon.

Emerging signals indicate over 100 presidential pardons may be issued on Tuesday, January 19 during Trump’s final hours in the White House.

Officials say though Trump has privately debated with aides about taking the extraordinary step of issuing a pardon for himself or his immediate family members, he may have jettisoned the idea following warnings that a self-pardon would make him guilt-ridden.

According to insider reports on Monday, in warning against a self-pardon, some administration officials argued that such a move would be a misstep by the President and clearly depict an admission of guilty.

It was further gathered that on Sunday, Trump met his son-in-law, Jared Kushner; daughter Ivanka Trump; and senior advisers to thrash out a lengthy list of pardon requests.

According to Washington Post, the meeting took up much of the day with President Trump personally considering details of every case.

It also said some scholars believe a self-pardon would go against the US constitution, since it violates the basic principle that nobody should be able to judge their own case.

With the issue of self-pardon having never been tested, the White House discussions took place against the backdrop of a looming Senate impeachment trial against President Trump, after the storming on 6 January by a pro-Trump mob of the US Capitol building.

If convicted by the US Senate, Trump could be disqualified for running again for the presidency in 2024. Out of office, Trump will also be vulnerable to prosecution from federal and state authorities over his actions in office and regarding his business empire.

It is not clear whether Trump will act to pardon members of his inner circle including Steve Bannon, who has been charged with defrauding individuals who donated to a wall project on the US-Mexico border.

Another possible name is Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s long time personal lawyer, who led attempts to overturn the result of November’s election. Trump and Giuliani are said to have fallen out over unpaid legal bills.

CNN reported on Monday that the final batch of clemency actions was expected to feature criminal justice reform-minded pardons as well as more controversial ones for allies and friends. Lobbyists have been pushing for months to include their clients on Trump’s valedictory list.

“Everything is a transaction. He likes pardons because it is unilateral. And he likes doing favours for people he thinks will owe him,” one source familiar with the matter told CNN, adding that Trump wanted to help people who could in turn help him in his post-White House career.

Dr Salomon Melgen, a prominent eye doctor from Palm Beach, who is in prison after being convicted on dozens of counts of healthcare fraud, is expected to be on the clemency list, CNN said.

Presidential pardons do not imply innocence, a fact President Gerald Ford clung to in the face of lasting opprobrium for his pardon of Richard Nixon, his predecessor who resigned in disgrace in 1974, over the Watergate scandal.

Last-ditch pardons and acts of clemency are common as presidencies come to a close. Infamously, in 2001, Bill Clinton pardoned the fugitive financier Marc Rich on his last day in the White House. – With The Guardian reports