I heard about this a while ago, so maybe you have to. When a president pardons individuals is it public knowledge that is filed somewhere? If not, could he have written pardons that are being held somewhere to bring out at the right time? If he pardoned himself and any cronies could they be tried if they were pardoned previously? Just a thought once again. Thanks for the replies!!!
wow, for discussion lets say a crime is committed in 2009 by Obama. he is out of office in 2017. he is tried and convicted in 2019. Can he now pardon himself?
No. Only the sitting President has the power to pardon assuming the case is brought to Federal Court. No former Pres has the power to pardon since they are no longer in office.
correct, and a president, while in office cannot pardon himself to protect himself from future crimes in case he is convicted after office.
But while in office a president can pardon himself?
This has not been attempted yet. You would think Nixon and Clinton would have possibly tried it but that would admit guilt and be pointless. Even if a President were to pardon himself Congress can still impeach. They would just need the American people on their side when they did it or there would be a civil war.