Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said Monday that if he were president and his lawyers advised he could pardon himself in special counsel Robert Mueller’s…
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said Monday that if he were president and his lawyers advised he could pardon himself in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, he would find new legal representation.
“If I were president of the United States and I had a lawyer that said I could pardon myself, I think I would hire a new lawyer,” Grassley told reporters Monday.
The New York Times reported Saturday that the president’s legal team is floating the possibility that he might invoke executive privilege to avoid a grand jury subpoena in Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (RELATED: REPORT: Trump’s Legal Team Used Executive Privilege Card To Avoid Mueller Subpoena)
The president’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said Sunday that the U. S. Constitution does not forbid the president from pardoning himself. (RELATED: Giuliani Says Trump Can Pardon Himself)
“He’s not, but he probably does” Giuliani told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos as to whether or not the president can pardon himself. “He has no intention of pardoning himself, but that doesn’t say he can’t.”
“That’s what the Constitution says, and if you want to change it, change it,” Giuliani said.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday Morning that he thinks the president will not pardon himself in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
“There is no way that will happen. And the reason it won’t is because it then because a political problem, George. If the president were to pardon himself, he’d get impeached,” Christie told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Sunday morning.
Stephanopoulos then asked whether the president was “sending signals” with a series of recent presidential pardons, like Scooter Libby and Dinesh D’Souza.
“You know, the president I think is executing the pardon authority in a more aggressive way than most presidents have in the past,” Christie said. “But I don’t think you can then read that into it. I think everyone wants to read that into it. I think this is a president who is not a lawyer, who has not held executive office before, when he sees what he deems to be an injustice, he wants to fix it immediately.”
The president said Monday that he has the power to pardon himself, claiming numerous legal scholars are already saying he can.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4,2018
“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!” the president tweeted Monday.
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