The Daily - The President and Pre-Emptive Pardons

The power to pardon criminals or commute their sentences is one of the most sacred and absolute a president has, and President Trump has already used it to rescue political allies and answer the pleas of celebrities. With his term coming to an end, the president has discussed granting three of his children, his son-in-law and personal lawyer pre-emptive pardons — a rarity in American history. We look ahead to a potential wave of pardons and commutations — and explore who could benefit. Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, a Washington correspondent for The New York Times. We want to hear from you. Fill out our survey about The Daily and other shows at: nytimes.com/thedailysurvey For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Read the latest edition here Background reading: Speculation about pardon activity at the White House is churning furiously, underscoring how much the Trump administration has been dominated by investigations and criminal prosecutions of people in the president’s orbit.The president’s pardoning of Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser, signals the prospect of a wave of pardons and commutations in his final weeks in office. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Duration: 26m
Broadcast on: 04 Dec 2020
Audio Format: other

With his term coming to an end, the president has discussed granting three of his children, his son-in-law and personal lawyer pre-emptive pardons — a rarity in American history.

We look ahead to a potential wave of pardons and commutations — and explore who could benefit.

Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, a Washington correspondent for The New York Times.

We want to hear from you. Fill out our survey about The Daily and other shows at: nytimes.com/thedailysurvey

For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Read the latest edition here

Background reading:

Speculation about pardon activity at the White House is churning furiously, underscoring how much the Trump administration has been dominated by investigations and criminal prosecutions of people in the president’s orbit.
The president’s pardoning of Michael Flynn, a former national security adviser, signals the prospect of a wave of pardons and commutations in his final weeks in office.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

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This podcast is supported by TikTok. Sometimes the most interesting discoveries are the ones you weren't looking for. That happens every day on TikTok. A science experiment can spark a whole new interest. A recipe you stumble upon can become a meal you make for the people you love. And a restaurant you've never heard of might become your new favorite spot. That's the thing about TikTok. Follow your curiosity and see where it leads. Your next discovery is waiting on TikTok. From New York Times, I'm Michael Bovarro. This is "The Daily." Today, in recent weeks, the president has been discussing the possibility of hardening his children and his lawyer to insulate them from crimes for which they have not yet been charged. My colleague Mike Schmidt explains, "It's Friday, December 4th." Mike, tell me about this reporting that you have been up to since Donald Trump lost re-election. I've turned my focus towards the question of pardons, the president's ability to end people's sentences in prison and to wipe their record clean of any type of federal conviction. Most presidents do pardons throughout. But the biggest, most complex, gnarly ones are often left to the last few days. Why is that? Because pardons are essentially saying that this whole federal system that we've set up to hold people accountable for crimes and that we put so much faith and emphasis in, we're going to take part of that and throw it out the window and get you literally a get out of jail free card. And Trump, like other presidents, has done them throughout. He's actually done fewer than other presidents up until this point. Because he has not done them in a regular system like previous presidents. In a traditional presidency, you would have the Justice Department's pardon attorneys examining applications about who should be pardoned, providing those recommendations to the White House and for the White House Council's office, the lawyers in the White House, helping the president determine how to use that power. That conveyor belt has not existed for the Trump administration. Instead, you've had the scattershot pardons for Republican icons. Breaking news from the White House, the president has pardoned Scooter Libby, the former chief of staff, to Vice President Cheney,

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