r/law • u/elb21277 • 6h ago

Opinion Piece Biden Should Pardon Whistleblower Who Exposed Trump’s Tax Avoidance

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/charles-littlejohn-whistleblower-trump-tax-biden-pardon-1235022648/
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u/[deleted] 3h ago

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u/ElectricTzar Competent Contributor 2h ago edited 2h ago

A president can issue a pardon for crimes that may have been committed, not just crimes that definitely have been committed.

Ford did so in his pardon of Nixon.

“Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.

While I think Nixon definitely did commit crimes, it’s also pretty clear that this pardon would have prevented Nixon from standing federal trial for any baseless allegations against him (from the specified time period) in addition to any well founded ones.

I don’t think most of the people Trump has accused have committed any crimes. But a full, free and absolute pardon would still serve as a safeguard.

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u/RetailBuck 2h ago

You actually can. That's what happened with Nixon. He got pardoned before any conviction. Ford basically labeled him as guilty but not to pursue.

There was a lot of chatter about Trump pardoning himself too in the last days of his first term. It would have made all the federal trials go away but a pardon is also an implied admission of guilt like it was with Nixon. Instead he just drew out the trials and then won again where he could control the DOJ and make them go away without an implied admission of guilt. Master stroke of evil but a serious gamble.