
Ask HN: Can President Trump Really Pardon Himself, As Tweeted By Him? - dsr12
Today President Trump tweeted that he can legally pardon himself: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;realDonaldTrump&#x2F;status&#x2F;1003616210922147841<p>I am not aware of US laws, but found it really interesting that the law gives absolute power to the President to even pardon himself! Can any legal expert on HN weigh in on this? Can the President really pardon himself and continue serving?
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lightbyte
Every answer will be speculative as the constitution doesn't explicitly say
and the Supreme Court hasn't ruled on the matter (yet).

It's worth noting accepting a pardon is an explicit admission of guilt as
ruled in Burdick v United States [1]

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burdick_v._United_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burdick_v._United_States)

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hsnewman
I suspect that he won't be charged non-the less convicted until after the mid
term elections. That said, it doesn't matter if he pardons himself, because
congress will likely impeach him if he is convicted or even just indicted.

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dsr12
Does impeachment result in serving jail term? Or he will just be removed from
President’s post but as he has pardoned himself, there will be no jail term?
Just curious about the legalities.

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Jtsummers
Impeachment results in removal from office, not jail time. Jail time could
result from further criminal charges and proceedings but if he's been pardoned
then no jail time (if the pardon is considered constitutional).

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sharemywin
Obviously, Mike Pense would pardon him. Really interesting question is if he
we're impeached can he run again?

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Jtsummers
Pence probably would. Even a Democratic successor might (for some crimes) just
because it's more politically expedient than dealing with what would,
arguably, be a political prisoner if he were convicted and imprisoned. Again,
depending on the nature of the charges.

He probably could. I don't think there's anything that prevents a successfully
impeached person from holding office again. It just removes them from office
and requires reappointment or reelection. But I think he'd lose the popular
vote again and probably the EC since enough people would've finally wised up
(or just lost the momentum).

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WaltPurvis
The answer is almost certainly no, but the Supreme Court will have to decide
the issue, if it ever comes to that.

There's a related issue of whether the president can be indicted while in
office. Many legal scholars say no, while others say yes, but there's nothing
at all in the Consitution that says the president _can 't_ be indicted. If
Trump _is_ indicted, it will be up to him and his lawyers to make a case why
the indictment should be tossed out, and it would once again fall to the
Supreme Court to decide the issue. (My own, non-legal-expert view is that the
Supreme Court would rule a president can indeed be indicted while in office,
because, again, there's absolutely nothing in the Consitution that says he
can't.)

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foobarbazetc
Most probably not, but that’s why you stack the courts.

