Can Trump pardon as many inmates who would promise to vote for him if he runs for public office again?

Again, the President can pardon anyone convicted of a Federal crime for whatever motive he sees fit.

The record for pardons is held by FDR with 2,018 pardons. Trump as of July had granted 10. I don’t think he’s going to even come close to the record so what is the obsession with pardons. Presidential pardons have been granted for close associates such as Marc Rich who was a close associate of Clinton’s and a major donor to his campaign. Let it go, it’s a little late in the game to try to amend the constitution.

First, the assumption is that Trump will be running for office in four years. Between his health being a possible issue (his age and his obesity), maybe he won’t be fit to run for office. Then, add to that Manhattan District Attorney is looking into criminal charges so maybe the Republicans won’t want to endorse a criminal (criminal with health problems?).

Seems to me that there should clearly be a restriction on pardons, and/or the validity of pardons, when they are found to involve the POTUS himself.

On the other hand, pardoning cronies may backfire, since being pardoned means the pardoned people can no longer plead the 5th Amendment to avoid self-incrimination when questioned, so if those people know things that tend to incriminate the POTUS who pardoned them…

But there are other corrupt motives that I’d say should also invalidate a pardon. For example, Trump pardoned the Blackwater mercenary contractors who fired machineguns and explosives at a crowd of people, and Blackwater is connected to the family that includes Trump’s conspicuously corrupt and terrible appointee to head The Department of Education, DeJoy, who has admitted her appointment (which she clearly wanted to enable profiteering on private schools) was about having made large political donations. To me, those are clear cases of corruption, in the sense of people abusing the powers of public offices that are supposed to be about serving the public good, to give each other favors and advantages to further each others’ personal profits, powers and interests, as well as of other powerful and wealthy people from whom they can expect various rewards in kind.

I don’t think there are enough inmates anywhere to vote him back into the White House.

There’s nothing stopping it. But it wouldn’t be an efficient way to get votes. For one thing, many states do not let felons vote, and they don’t automatically grant pardoned felons the vote. The pardoned person has to apply for reinstatement.

Even supposing he could it’d be a futile effort. He can only pardon for crimes at the federal level. There would not be enough in any given state to hand him a single state.

@Jaxk “I don’t think he’s going to even come close to the record so what is the obsession with pardons.”

Pardons always stir up controversy. Especially during a President’s final days in office when he tends to issue a wave of them.

BTW: Trump, to date, has issued pardons or commutations for 45 people. Which is still a quite small number compared to most other presidents. The record is held by Andrew Johnson, not FDR. Johnson issued pardons for around 7,000 people.

@Zaku Blackwater was Betsy DeVos’ brother’s founded company? Not sure if he still owns it.

I’m guessing no American voter would want any US President no matter the political affiliation to abuse this power. And in these present times Trump seems to be abusing it in my view.

@mazingerz88

I believe it sold it some time back. As far as I know it keeps getting passed around like a hot potato. Keeps changing ownership, and they keep changing the name, hoping to kinda sweep its history under the rug, but the reputation clings to it like stink on shit.

^^I’ll bet rich and influential people like the Blackwater founder can easily transfer ownership of companies yet still retain indirect influence.

It’s profitable and powerful business connections regular people like myself will never comprehend completely.

There’s also mention of trump giving immunity to Saudi Arabia’s King. Now that’s going to be profitable for trump’s family businesses eventually.

There should be an accounting of how much money or in what way did these pardons benefited personally the President who gave them.

The Republicans do their damndest to stop former felons from voting so pardoning them would probably not do the Trump party much good! (Chortling at the irony.)

@mazingerz88

Has King Salman been convicted of any crime under US jurisdiction? Strange that he keeps talking about pardons for people (himself and his family included) who haven’t even been charged with any crime.

And good luck prosecuting the sovereign of a powerful, extremely wealthy nation in the first place. The only way that might happen is in the International Court of Justice, where the President of the United States has no jurisdiction.

The Saudi issue regards Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and immunity for a lawsuit.

CNN – Dec 23, 2020 – “The Trump administration is considering granting Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman legal immunity from a federal lawsuit alleging that he ordered an assassination squad to kill a former top Saudi intelligence official who shared information with the US, according to sources familiar with the situation.

“Saad Aljabri alleges in his lawsuit in DC District Court that the Saudi prince sent members of the same assassination squad that killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Canada, where Aljabri now lives in exile, to target him as well…

”...It is common for the US to grant sovereign immunity for sitting heads of state and even foreign government officials, a step that is often justified as necessary under international law. Immunity is waived from time to time, however, particularly if US policy is to put pressure on a foreign government.”