Donald Trump has promised to pardon his White House staffers, reported the Wall Street Journal’s Josh Dawsey in an exclusive report on Friday.
Dawsey, the veteran DC reporter, cited “people who have heard his comments” in the bombshell report revealing that Trump is asking his staff to operate with a sense of impunity.
“I’ll pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval,” Trump reportedly told staffers “in a recent meeting to laughs.”
I’ve been thinking about this a lot, but the problem is that the President can only pardon federal crimes, so if a mob drags Steven Miller from his house in California and kills him, the President can’t do anything to intervene. However, I’m pretty sure that the President could pardon crimes committed in D.C., and the Supreme Court has basically said the President can’t be held accountable for crimes committed in office, so in theory, a future President could order agents to take Miller into custody, bring him to D.C., and execute him. He could then pardon everyone involved and no one could be held accountable.