We asked legal scholars, former justice department officials and others whether a president may self-pardonDonald Trump, who has not been charged with any crime, asserted on Twitter Monday morning that he had `the absolute right to pardon` himself. 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! Related: Donald Trump claims he has `absolute right to pardon myself` There´s a sense in which as a legal matter it is irrelevant, because I think it´s very unlikely that the president will be indicted. But as an expression of the president´s views of his powers, it´s very disturbing. It suggests that he has views more in keeping with people like Erdogan in Turkey and Putin in Russia.In a constitutional republic, the president has an obligation to obey the law. Part of his oath of office is to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and pardoning himself is not the faithful execution of the laws. So in that sense it is a really shocking assertion. ... Ultimately the American people have to decide for themselves whether this person is fit to be president, and how they´re going to decide is still very much up in the air.Of course, the president is not above the law. Indeed, I have no patience for theoretical arguments on this issue. The president shows gross disregard for the constitution and our justice system daily; he´s rampaging through it like Atilla the Hun. Rather than swirling off into an abstract frenzy in response to Trump´s manic tweets, let us ask, relentlessly, what, specifically, does the president propose to pardon himself for?Unless and until he answers that question, we should steadfastly avoid allowing him to draw us into debating his insane and ephemeral legal-sounding pronouncements. It´s quite enough to say: `No, ...
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