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  • US President Donald Trump's pardoning of this former adviser, Michael Flynn, has fueled speculation over whether he'll go on a last ditch spree, pardoning other associates, members of his family and even himself.

  • Let's look at the presidential pardon.

  • Power, which is sweeping but not absolute, can be abused.

  • One could say, Uh, Bill Clinton, when he left office, issued hundreds of pardons, showed a lot of leniency.

  • Thio people close to him in his inner circle owners his half brother S O.

  • Because of that history, there's this concern that Trump, on his way out of office, feeling less concerned about his reelection chances but issue a flurry.

  • Apartment pardons are typically given to people who have been prosecuted.

  • They can cover conduct that has not resulted in legal proceedings but can't apply to things that haven't happened yet.

  • One area confusion around the pardon power is this idea that the party can only go to somebody who's already been prosecuted.

  • That's not the case.

  • A pardon could be mawr preemptive, so to speak.

  • It could be broadly worded to essentially shield somebody from the future case, so it's conceivable Trump could write a part in intended to protect Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer.

  • Some associates of Giuliani have.

  • They're facing campaign finance related charges.

  • The pardon power is one of the broadest available to a president.

  • The nation's founder saw it as a way to show mercy and serve the public good.

  • Ah, pardon can't be reviewed by other branches of government, and no reason has to be given for issuing one.

  • But the power is not absolute.

  • Crucially, a pardon Onley applies to federal crimes.

  • It is legal for Trump to part in his inner circle, including members of his family.

  • In 2001, former President Bill Clinton pardoned his brother Roger, who was convicted for cocaine possession and Arkansas Clinton Pardon about 450 people, including a Democratic Party donor, Mark Rich, who fled the country because of tax evasion charges.

  • But it's unclear how broadly worded a pardon can be.

  • Former President Richard Nixon received a pardon from his successor, Gerald Ford.

  • It absolved Nixon for all criminal offenses he committed or may have taken part and during his presidency.

  • But the U.

  • S Supreme Court has never ruled on whether such a pardon is lawful.

  • Some scholars have argued the nation's founders intended for pardons to be specific and that there is an implied limit on their scope.

  • In 2018, Trump said he had the absolute right to pardon himself, a claim many constitutional law scholars dispute.

  • No one knows definitively if it would be valid or not.

  • Pardon.

  • Power is very broad, but ah, lot of people think of president can't pardon himself or herself.

  • That would just go too far.

  • The Constitution doesn't address this, but if you just think about what the partner was designed to do, show mercy.

  • It just seems to go a bit too far.

  • You'd essentially be making the president the judge in his case or her own face.

  • That smacks of injustice.

US President Donald Trump's pardoning of this former adviser, Michael Flynn, has fueled speculation over whether he'll go on a last ditch spree, pardoning other associates, members of his family and even himself.

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