At this point it would not surprise the American people if the Don pardoned himself. He was and always will be full of wind and smoke.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slat...his_power_to_pardon_aides_family_himself.html Donald Trump’s legal team is, predictably, looking for ways to push back against the Mueller investigation into Trump World and undermine its credibility. It's a strategy straight from the playbook of former President Clinton, who launched withering attacks on independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr during the 1990s, branding him partisan and biased in an attempt to turn public opinion against Starr’s aggressive broadening of what started as an investigation into land development deals that came to be known as Whitewater and ended with Monica Lewinsky and impeachment.
From the Post: Currently, the discussions of pardoning authority by Trump’s legal team is purely theoretical, according to two people familiar with the ongoing conversations. But if Trump pardoned himself in the face of the ongoing Mueller investigation, it would set off a legal and political firestorm, first around the question of whether a president can use the constitutional pardon power in that way.
Hair on fire. Tweets to the contrary. http://thehill.com/homenews/adminis...g-presidential-pardon-powers-possible-mueller Trump himself has talked to advisers about his ability to pardon his aides, family members and himself in the investigations, according to the Post, though one adviser cautioned that the president's inquiries were made in curiosity, rather than in connection to the Russia probes. “This is not in the context of, ‘I can’t wait to pardon myself,'” the adviser said.
"Hey, I'm curious, can I pardon myself, my family and my friends?" "Why do you ask?" "Oh nothing, just curious."
“This is not in the context of, ‘I can’t wait to pardon myself,'” the adviser said. "Not a wolf, sorry to bother everyone."
I didn't forget, that's why I said it's an easy mistake to make. But people generally don't kill over puppets. They just find a new puppet. Puppets are disposable!
According to the Constitutional law scholars (two) I saw last night that is the case. But the pardon would not apply to perjury. So if pardoned for, say, money laundering they could be subpoenaed and could not plead the fifth as they had immunity from prosecution for that crime, however, immunity would not extend to a future crime. Also, legally, a person is not simply granted a pardon, he/she must accept and legally accepting a pardon is acknowledging guilt.
