This evening on Lawrence O”Donnell, one-time Watergate attorney Jill Wine-Banks explained some interesting facts surrounding the potential pardon now being considered for Sheriff Joe. It turns out that there is a downside that accompanies the upside of not going to prison.
Ms. Wine-Banks agrees that Mr. Trump has the authority to pardon anyone accused or convicted of a Federal crime. He can’t help you with parking tickets or barroom brawls. The precedent of Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon in advance of any indictment shows that he can do it before charges are even filed.
That’s the upside, as far as Sheriff Joe and possible others are concerned. Here’s the downside.
First, by accepting a pardon, the subject of the pardon also pleads guilty to the crime.
Second, by accepting a pardon, the subject also surrenders the Fifth Amendment rights that might have otherwise kept him from testifying against his father in law.
The jury is still out on whether a president can pardon himself, because none yet has had the temerity to try that tack. However, the two downside points of a pardon show that by pardoning himself, he is admitting a crime, and then would be subject to impeachment.
It’s not the total “get out of jail free” card they thought they had.