23 July, 2017
USA investigators examining money laundering accusations against President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort hope to push him to cooperate with their probe into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russian Federation, two sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said.
In a series of early morning Twitter messages, Trump aired renewed frustration with his attorney general, the special counsel leading the Russian Federation probe, and Republicans in Congress who are struggling to advance his legislative agenda.
Mr. Trump did not specify what he meant, but he may have been referring to a Fox News report, a version of which aired about 25 minutes before the president tweeted, about comments by a top commander at a conference on Friday. Gen. "These illegal leaks, like Comey's, must stop!" he tweeted yesterday.
Does anyone think that, if he could, Trump would not attempt to pardon himself? The DOJ memo said that under the age-old legal maxim that no one can be the judge of his own case, even the president of the United States cannot pardon himself.
Raising the issue does kind of suggest there might be something they need pardoning FOR down the line.
Donald Trump seems to believe that his presidential powers are almost limitless. A president can also offer a full pardon, in essence an official statement of forgiveness for a crime. Mueller is examining contacts between Russian officials and Trump associates during and after the November 8 presidential election as part of a broader investigation into whether Russia tried to sway the election in favor of Trump. Confused yet? While he did not self-pardon, President Richard Nixon had not been indicted in the Watergate scandal, and resigned before being impeached.
Presidents have made sweeping pardons to heal national wounds, such as when President Andrew Johnson pardoned Southerners after the Civil War.
It involves discussions like this: If a president needs to pardon himself, should he not have already resigned for whatever offence he has committed?
Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution gives the president the "Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment". Ah-ha! So, if impeached, Trump can not self pardon.
"It would be obstruction of justice for any officials to order an end to the investigation for an improper objective", said Dellinger, who pointed out that FBI investigations like the Mueller probe have their own momentum and are very hard to shut down. The Senate Intelligence Committee, he said, seems to be engaged in a serious attempt to find out whether Russian Federation influenced the 2016 election.
In the context of the Russian Federation investigation, Mr Trump could grant immunity to aides or family members, limiting Mr Mueller's scope.
Presidential pardons do not carry an implication of guilt.
Trump's show of strength and defiance of criticism from the media was supported by persons like Spicer as Press Secretary and for him to go means other Trump supporters can also disagree much with him to withdraw their services.
President Trump's ties to Russian Federation have been frequently compared to Nixon's Watergate scandal - and a higher percentage of Americans now want to see Trump impeached than did Nixon.
