Trump now declares Mueller investigation "unconstitutional" and that he has the power to pardon himself.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/us/politics/trump-pardon-power-constitution.html
While he's wrong on the first count, sadly, he's probably correct on the second.
Opinions vary:
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-poli...dent-pardon-himself-limits-power-constitution
President Trump says he can pardon himself. I asked 15 experts if that's legal.
To permit the elected leader of that government to absolve himself of wrongdoing — perhaps, for good measure, to do so on a weekly basis — would erode the bedrock of our Constitution.
It was based on this reasoning that the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel wrote in 1974: “Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, the President cannot pardon himself.” Days later, President Richard M. Nixon chose to extricate himself from scandal not by self-pardon, but rather by resignation from office. Nixon’s precedent should put an end to the current discussion.
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Diane Marie Amann, law professor, University of Georgia
“THE VIEW THAT THE PRESIDENT HAS THE POWER TO PARDON HIMSELF CONTRADICTS A CENTRAL TENET OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: ‘NO MAN IS ABOVE THE LAW.’”
—JIMMY GURULÉ, LAW PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
“THE CONSTITUTION MEANS WHATEVER THE COURTS SAY IT MEANS. IF THE US SUPREME COURT DECIDED TOMORROW THAT THE WORD ‘EMOLUMENT’ ACTUALLY MEANS ‘SUNGLASSES,’ THEN THAT IS THE LAW OF THE LAND.”
—JESSICA LEVINSON, LAW PROFESSOR, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL
“THIS IS THEATER OF THE ABSURD. THE FACT THAT WE'RE EVEN TALKING ABOUT IT IS A MEASURE OF HOW FAR WE'VE FALLEN UNDER TRUMP.”
—SAMUEL GROSS, LAW PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
“THE POINT OF THE PARDON POWER WAS TO BESTOW MERCY ON ANOTHER, NOT TO ENRICH ONESELF.”
—ASHA RANGAPPA, ASSOCIATE DEAN, YALE LAW SCHOOL
