Matthew T. Mangino
GateHouse Media
November 11, 2016
In 1974, President Gerald Ford, the only person ever to
assume the presidency without getting elected president or vice-president,
pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon. Nixon had resigned in the shadow of the
Watergate investigation making way for Ford.
Some speculate that Ford’s pardon of Nixon cost him the
chance at getting elected president in 1976, when he lost to Georgia Governor
Jimmy Carter.
As Hillary Clinton faces the prospect of renewed
investigations into her email accounts, the Clinton Foundation and the pledge
by her opponent President-elect Donald Trump to put her in jail, President
Barack Obama has a decision to make. Does he pardon Hillary Clinton?
He has no concerns with re-election. His career, at least as
head of the executive branch of government, is over. His presidential legacy is
on the line, but if Trump is true to his word, most of Obama’s achievements as
president are soon to be dismantled.
After Election Day, White House press secretary Josh Earnest
left open the possibility that President Obama could grant a pardon to Clinton,
though he said the president was hopeful President-elect Trump would follow
long-standing tradition of not punishing political opponents through the
criminal justice system.
“For Obama to do that (pardon Clinton) at a moment at which
he is the least accountable politically, that would be a little tricky,” Brian
C. Kalt, law professor at Michigan State University told the Washington Times.
“That said, it would be perfectly constitutional. It’s just the question of
whether it’s good politics or not.”
Rudy Giuliani, a leading contender to be Trump’s attorney
general told Bloomberg News the U.S. has two traditions that are in conflict
with each other. One, he said, is that “we try to get over the anger and
everything else about an election after it’s over with and put it behind us.”
“I don’t like to see America become a country in which we
prosecute people, you know, about politics,” he said. “On the other hand, there
are deep and disturbing issues there ... “
Giuliani went on to say, “That’s a very tough balance and
that’s why I don’t think President Obama should pardon her, I think President
Obama should leave it to the system we all believe in to determine, is she
innocent or is she guilty?”
The pardon power “is unlimited and unreviewable,” former
House counsel Stan Brand told Politico. Brand said he doubts Trump will follow
through on his threats of a special prosecutor. “If he wants to be president,
he’s the president-elect now, he truly has to switch from campaign mode to
governing mode,” Brand added. “I’d say good luck to them politically, if
(Trump’s team) thinks that’s (prosecuting Clinton) going to advance their
agenda.”
Trump has a real dilemma of his own making. His campaign
rhetoric included a familiar refrain, “Crooked Hillary.” His supporters
frequently chanted “Lock her up.”
Trump issued his pledge to appoint a special prosecutor to
investigate Clinton during a national debate with the whole country watching.
During one exchange, Clinton said she was glad that someone with “the
temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.” Trump
replied, “Because you’d be in jail.”
The idea of jailing Clinton was the cornerstone of Trump’s
campaign, his supporters relished in the idea of prosecuting Clinton. According
to the Los Angeles Times, “They (Trump supporters) have produced merchandise
including T-shirts and bobblehead dolls emblazoned with ‘Hillary for Prison’ or
Clinton wearing pinstripes or jail jumpsuits.”
There is hope that cooler heads may prevail. New Jersey
Governor Chris Christie, the head of Trump’s transition team, seemed to back
away from the threat of investigating Clinton. “They had an enormously gracious
conversation with each other on Tuesday night,” Christie told the “Today Show.”
Christie added, “Politics are over now. People have spoken. Time to move to
uniting the country.”
Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett,
Kelly & George P.C. His book, “The Executioner’s Toll, 2010,” was recently
released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him atmattmangino.com and
follow him on Twitter at @MatthewTMangino.
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