Pardons

Dear President Trump’s Legal team (especially Mr. Giuliani),

This weekend, two events happened that shed some light onto the workings and thoughts behind your defense of the President. While creative, they are fundamentally wrong.

The first is the use of the Pardon. No one (especially me) is denying that the President has the power of the Pardon. It is one of the few areas in the Constitution that has not been affected by an Amendment. The founders wanted the Pardon has a way to correct blatant miscarriages of justice and for quick pardons for treasons/insurrections (See Federalist paper # 74).

Now I won’t go into the tradition and policies since the President is throwing them out the window. However, I will mention that this was resolved back in 1974. Basically the Office of Legal Counsel (Department of Justice) ruled that you can’t be a judge in your own case. And self-pardoning means that you are judging yourself.

What is really sad here is that a number of Republicans who claim expert knowledge of the Constitution are ducking this issue. They are claiming to not to know anything about this issues or are just not answering any questions. One has to wonder about what you will do when he does perform the self-pardon?

Since you know that if the President does perform a self-pardon he would be impeached and removed from office (as stated but Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Christie), I notice you came up with a novel idea right out of the “West Wing.” For those of you that missed it, let me educate you on their work around. You see, the plan is to invoke the 25^th Amendment of the Constitution. The president claims some reason for temporarily stepping down, the VP then becomes acting POTUS, pardons Trump, then he comes back claiming he is better. Hollywood would be proud.

The other problem this weekend was the comment by Mr. Giuliani. Again, for those of you that missed it; Mr. Giuliani stated that if the President were to have shot Director Comey, he could not be indicted. Now I want you to think about that for a minute. What Giuliani is stating is that the President could not be arrested for murder. Impeached and later arrested, but not while President.

This idea, if implemented, would give a president almost absolute authority. Who would stop him. He appoints the court judges, the military leadership, and the Congress is missing action. You? You can’t even get one of your team to shut up about your plans and are allowing him to make threats to people. Want to know somebody who had this type of power? Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin, and many other dictators. Heck, you can go watch the video of Saddam seizing power in 1979 on YouTube. Is that what you want?

Here is some advice. First, tell Giuliani to shut up. His rants, coordinated with the President’s, just makes the President look guilty. Innocent people do not need Pardons.

Secondly, who’s running the legal team? Your latest member is Rob Frost. A talented lawyer who helped Bill Clinton during his impeachment. Why is he letting Giuliani act like he is running the show? Is Giuliani in charge? If so, then the President better go to his tailor to get fitted for an orange jumpsuit.

Finally, tell the president to stop acting like a fool and take away his phone. If there were no collusion like he claims, then the investigation will prove it. But the actions the President and you, the legal team, are those of people that are guilty and are desperate to divert the discussion and investigation. A new Congress, the American people, and history will not be swayed.

Signed,

An Informed Citizen.