There Is No ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ Card for the President

by | Jun 8, 2018

There Is No ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ Card for the President

by | Jun 8, 2018

When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.“—Richard Nixon

Someone needs to alert Donald Trump: there is no “Get Out of Jail Free” card just for being president.
According to Trump’s Twitter feed, he believes that he has an absolute right to pardon himself of any crimes for which he might be charged while serving in office.
He’s not alone in this imperial belief.
Two of Trump’s lawyers have attempted to float the idea that “the president’s powers are so broad as to make it impossible for him to have obstructed justice.”
Rudy Giuliani, another of Trump’s enablers, insists that Trump could even get away with shooting the FBI director in the Oval Office and not be prosecuted for murder. “In no case can he be subpoenaed or indicted,” Giuliani argued, claiming a president’s constitutional powers are that broad.
Read the rest at fff.org.

John Whitehead

John W. Whitehead is a constitutional attorney, author, and founder and president of The Rutherford Institute.

View all posts

Our Books

Shop books published by the Libertarian Institute.

libetarian institute longsleeve shirt

Our Books

cb0cb1ef 3fcb 417d 80d8 4eef7bbd8290

Recent Articles

Recent

TGIF: On the Importance of Undesigned Order

TGIF: On the Importance of Undesigned Order

Carl Menger, the founder of the Austrian approach to economics, was not the first or last thinker to see similarities between a society and a living organism, suggesting the existence of undesigned, spontaneous order. The names Adam Ferguson and Adam Smith, before...

read more
Bill Kristol vs. The Holy Father

Bill Kristol vs. The Holy Father

Recently when President Donald Trump shared an AI image of himself as the next pope in the wake of the death of Pope Francis, apparently in jest, it caused controversy. For neoconservative godson Bill Kristol, it created an opportunity to needle Vice President J.D....

read more
What Trump Misunderstands About William McKinley

What Trump Misunderstands About William McKinley

It’s no secret that one of Donald Trump’s favorite U.S. presidents is William McKinley, who led the country from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. Indeed, Trump recently changed the official name of Denali back to Mount McKinley in honor of the late president. In...

read more

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This