The Pardon
I have written on so many political topics during the course of the past two years of the first term of President Donald Trump. The one topic I have not pursued is that of the Pardon.
This is the Constitutional power given to the president allowing him to immediately or in a short period of time have a convicted or even just an indicted person released from prison before his sentence is over or even after the person has served his time and perhaps has even died before the Pardon is given.
Through the years, many presidents have been petitioned to pardon persons who some feel had been wrongfully convicted or convicted for a long period of time for a crime which did not match the sentence. Usually, a president will wait until the end of his term in office — whether he served one or two terms – four or eight years.
Article ll, Section 2, clause1 of the Constitution says the president shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieve, respite, and remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of ANY person convicted of ANY offence that cannot affect an impeachment process. The president may not use this power in regards to state or local crimes or civil cases.
Why is this an important topic to examine at this particular time? It appears that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller is getting close to wrapping up his investigation of the Trump administration and the Russian affair. However, despite the convictions of a number of Trump's top officials and indictments of others, it is not over, yet.
It appears that Paul Manafort — who has been convicted of a number of offenses and lied to prosecutors about others — and Roger Stone , who has been indicted, are both campaigning for a pardon. Unlike Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen, who have cooperated to a certain degree with Mueller's prosecuting team and resigned themselves to no time in prison or up to three years, Manafort and Stone are believing Trump with eventually pardon them.
But what if Mueller indicts and later convicts Trump's daughter, Ivanka; son, Don, Jr., and son - in - law Jared Kushner? Whom would Trump pardon first?
Or would Trump have the audacity to try and pardon all five of his most loyal friends and family members in 2019 or early 2020 and run the risk of angering a large segment of the American citizens?
If he decides to do this, how long would it take to pardon someone like Paul Manafort who is said to be facing anywhere from 19 to 24 years in prison?
We know that Trump has already pardoned four persons during the 2017 - 2018 time period. If he were to pardon five more persons within the next year would there be a serious outpouring of anger leading up to the 2020 Presidential election?
We know this number of pardons would pale in comparison to President Franklin Roosevelt's 2,819 during the period of 1933 - 1945! But despite Roosevelt's huge number, his pardons were over a twelve - year time period.
Would Trump do it and would that set a bad precedent for future presidents to do likewise early in their administration as opposed to waiting until they are leaving office? We have to wait and see.
As we often say, the jury is still out.
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