Congressman Matt Gaetz believes President Trump should consider a pardon for himself and others in his administration as a means to fend off the radical left.
Gaetz made the comments during an appearance with Fox News personality Laura Ingraham earlier this week.
“President Trump should pardon Michael Flynn. He should pardon the Thanksgiving turkey,” he said. “He should pardon everyone from himself to his administration officials to Joe Exotic if he has to.”
While those comments were seemingly lighthearted, what lies on the horizon when President Trump leaves office – whether in 2021 or 2025 – is anything but.
“You see from the radical left a bloodlust that will only be quenched if they come after the people who worked so hard to animate the Trump administration with the policies and the vigor and the effectiveness that delivered for the American people,” Gaetz explained.
Matt Gaetz: “President Trump should pardon Michael Flynn, he should pardon the Thanksgiving turkey, he should pardon everyone from himself to his administration officials, to Joe Exotic if he has to!” pic.twitter.com/mEEEqCl9rl
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) November 25, 2020
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Matt Gaetz Says Trump Should Pardon Himself
Despite a media and resistance party heavily invested in portraying President Trump as a criminal, it is important to note he has never been charged with a crime.
That said, there is actually legal precedence for granting such pardons.
The Washington Post reports:
In Ex parte Garland, the Supreme Court settled the question of preemptive pardons. The justices in that 1866 case decided that while pardons could reach only past acts, the pardon “may be exercised at any time after [the act’s] commission, either before legal proceedings are taken or during their pendency or after conviction and judgment.”
They go on to note that Abraham Lincoln pardoned dozens of people preemptively.
Perhaps most famously, President Gerald Ford pardoned President Richard Nixon, who had not been charged with anything at the time.
Would Joe Biden be willing to tamp down the fires of controversy in America by doing the same for Trump?
Self-pardons have been an issue of much debate during President Trump’s tenure.
Law scholar Jonathan Turley has argued that the President has the right to do so.
“There is no language specifying who may or may not be the subject of a pardon,” he wrote in a USA Today column. “The president is simply given the power to pardon any federal crime.”
“As a textual matter, there is nothing to prevent Trump from adding his own name to the list of pardoned individuals.”
As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2018
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The Radical Left Will Never Stop
Signs of the ‘bloodlust’ Gaetz references have already been seen as Biden has been declared President-elect.
Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) demanded a thorough investigation and prosecution of the President and members of his administration.
Tonight I’m calling for the eventual prosecution of donald trump and his enablers for their many crimes against the United States. pic.twitter.com/LJGvzLqQ35
— Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) November 18, 2020
Despite mentioning the phrase “many crimes,” Pascrell’s statement references none, instead making vague allusions to ‘profiting from his office’ and ‘endangering national security.’
Which, incidentally, he may want to draft a statement about the President-elect since evidence regarding his son Hunter’s business dealings with China seem to indicate actual guilt in such accusations.
Additionally, actor Rob Reiner says that a “non-partisan commission” should be created to investigate Trump after he leaves office to “restore faith in our Constitution and the Rule of Law.”
After Trump leaves, and he will, to repair the damage he has caused Democracy, it will be imperative that a non partisan commission be formed to investigate him for Federal Crimes. It will be the only way we can restore faith in our Constitution and the Rule of Law.
— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) November 20, 2020
As for the pardon power – federal pardons issued by the president apply only to federal law; they do not apply to civil, state, or local offenses. And New York prosecutors have been harassing the Trump family for years now.
Ivanka Trump, the President’s daughter, recently called them “ruthless” and accused them of “harassment, pure and simple.”
This is harassment pure and simple. This ‘inquiry’ by NYC democrats is 100% motivated by politics, publicity and rage. They know very well that there’s nothing here and that there was no tax benefit whatsoever. These politicians are simply ruthless.https://t.co/4dQoDzQlRX
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) November 20, 2020
It is harassment and the harassment, quite clearly, is never going to stop.