The U.S. presidential pardon is back in focus as this presidential term ends and a new one starts on January 20th. Trump’s pardon of his first national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, reignited a political fire-storm of political spying in the 2016 presidential election, Flynn’s non-compliant relationships with Russia and Turkey, and the Founding Fathers constitutional model of democracy in controversial real-time action.
The federal presidential pardon power is granted to the president by Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution which provides: “The President…shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”
It only applies to federal, not state or local, crimes. It grants the president the power to pardon any person convicted for or accused of a federal crime – except in cases of impeachment. Applications for presidential pardons must be prepared and submitted to the president by the U.S. Pardon Attorney of the Department of Justice.
Presidential Pardons have always been controversial – and political since the founding of the Republic, starting with President George Washington who, between 1789 and 1797 issued 16 pardons; President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued 3,687 pardons, the most of any president to date. Presidents William H. Harrison and James Garfield, did not grant any pardons because they died shortly after taking office.
President Gerald Ford pardoned former president Richard Nixon for Watergate in 1974; President Jimmy Carter, on his first full day in office on January 21, 1977, granted unconditional pardons to nearly 500,000 Americans who had evaded the military draft during the Vietnam War; Presidents Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Obama and Trump have all made controversial Presidential Pardons.
Excuse me, pardon me! Yes, President Trump can pardon friends and family if they are convicted or accused of a federal crime – and himself – unless he is impeached.
