No, it is not “absolute, encompassing, and unlimited”. The president cannot pardon state crimes. He cannot pardon himself (at least according to Nixon’s own lawyers). He cannot pardon in matters of impeachment, as explicitly stated in the same goddamned sentence in the constitution that grants the pardon power. He cannot pardon future crimes, and that is not in dispute.
edited to add: There is also an implicit limitation on the president’s pardon power in that if he uses it to commit obstruction of justice then that president may be impeached for it, or may be prosecuted for the obstruction once he leaves office (eg. term expired).
And being the Lawyerly Goddess you are, what do you think about Rudy Giuliandrews committing possible obstruction of justice and witness tampering by dangling the prospect of presidential pardons after Manafort being sent to jail?
Papadopoulos email to Manafort: “Request from Russia to meet Mr. Trump”
Manafort then email Rick Gates: “We need someone to communicate that DT is not doing these trips. It should be someone low level in the campaign so as not to send any signal.”
Sorry if this has already been posted, but Manafort used “foldering” to communicate with his criminal accomplices. He made an email account and shared the password. He wrote messages but saved them as drafts, never sending actual emails. Other guys open the draft, read it, delete.
Yup, heard that on the radio as I drove home. Man, she was on key - called what was happening with the kids a “sin”, which has to resonate with at least a subset of the evangelicals. I like that Manafort was locked up and the Trump Foundation civil suit was filed, but so far this immigration issue is the only one I see that has any power to sway Trumpanistas away from “their man”. It may still not be enough, but currently I think it’s our best shot at getting any movement in the Senate and that’s the only way this gets shorted down from a full term…
Was Trump being fair to the people who donated money to his Veteran’s charity event who didn’t know Trump was going to spend the money on his campaign? Nixon’s slush fund is what really brought Nixon down. Donald is a very dishonest man. He still needs to show us his tax returns. If he can’t after all this time, he should resign.
This guy is a real piece of work. He claims he barely knew Manafort but he’s willing to go to bat for him. Trump wants us to believe everything he says even when his words are disputed…by himself on video. He claims dictators are awesome and Canadians are mean. He calls the very man who called him a “dotard” intelligent. Well I guess he finally got something right.
So I’ve read, but didn’t Ford do just that for Nixon?
And somewhat OT, but as long as I’m seeking free legal opinions: Why is the action against Trump Foundation a lawsuit rather than a criminal prosecution?
