Trump’s Plan To Pardon His Way Out Of Legal Trouble Just Got Torpedoed

Since the completion of the Mueller probe, talk has begun once again regarding the president possibly getting ready to start handing out pardons to those caught up in the Russia investigation or other probes that have been initiated as a result of Mueller’s work.


Let’s be clear: A president has far-reaching power in the area of pardons. He doesn’t have to get Congress or anyone else to approve them. But the power isn’t absolute, as Trump will soon find out if he thinks he might want to use pardons as a way to mitigate his own legal exposure.


For example, let’s say that Trump decided to pardon his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. With a signature, Trump can remove all of the federal charges against Manafort, and that’s the end of that chapter in the Russia investigation.

But the New York Attorney General’s office holds the ultimate hole card: They can then charge Manafort with violations of state law and Trump can’t do a damn thing about it.


An article in Vox notes that while the New York AG’s office has yet to say exactly who is under investigation, it appears that Mueller is already laying out a road map for them to follow:

“When Mueller’s office filed charges against Manafort, they included a range of financial crimes. But the charges puzzled some experts because there were several obvious potential cases tied to those crimes that didn’t appear.

“Although Mueller added new charges against Manafort … there’s still a range of tax and fraud charges that Mueller hasn’t used. That could be because he’s making sure that New York state prosecutors have ammunition in the event that Trump pardons Cohen after a federal conviction.”

We also know that New York Attorney General’s office has been working with Mueller since last August, so there’s little doubt their prosecutors know exactly where suspects in the Russia matter are most vulnerable.

So while Trump may be plotting to pardon his way out of trouble at this very moment, behind the scenes roadblocks are already being created to make sure he and his co-conspirators don’t walk away free.

Donald Trump is now caught in a web of lies, crimes, conspiracies, and plots from which there is no escape.

7 thoughts on “Trump’s Plan To Pardon His Way Out Of Legal Trouble Just Got Torpedoed

  1. You fail to mention that if pardoned the individuals will not be able to use their 5th amendment protections against self incrimination and can be required to testify about all they know.

  2. Watching and listing to all the events of the past 2+ years of this president ,I am confused. What is the process of setting up a government within a government? What is this presidents style of government defined as?

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