Will Trump try to pardon himself on his way out of the White House?

Trump pardons
(Image credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

President Trump is very likely to issue a raft of pardons in the last 10 weeks of his presidency. Many presidents do, and Trump in particular has been "obsessed with the power of pardons" ever since he learned he had that power in 2017, a former White House official tells CNN. "I always thought he also liked it because it was a way to do a favor."

Unidentified sources tell CNN that Trump is most likely to pardon former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn; former campaign chair Paul Manafort; Rudy Giuliani; Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner; Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg; his children; and maybe even himself. "Trump has been asking aides since 2017 about whether he can self-pardon," CNN reports, citing former aides, and he himself tweeted in June 2018: "As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.