Any predictions on who and how many pardons will be granted by Trump today?
This new Axios piece, headlined “Scoop: Trump pardons expected today,” suggests we will see some (significant?) clemency action today from the White House (around 5pm I would guess). Here is what Axios has to say on the matter:
President Trump plans to issue a wave of pardons today, moving to expedite acts of clemency before Christmas, according to a source with direct knowledge and advocates who have been briefed on the plans.
What to watch: Trump has been considering pardons for friends and allies, as Axios reported, interrupting conversations with associates to spontaneously suggest he add them to his pardon list. He already pardoned his former national security advisor Michael Flynn.
- It was unclear who will be included in this batch.
- Sen. Rand Paul called on Trump to pardon Edward Snowden in an article for The Federalist on Thursday. A source with direct knowledge of the planning said they did not expect Trump to follow through with a Snowden pardon.
The big picture: Trump has considered several controversial pardons, including for his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
I would expect Prez Trump would be inclined to “save” whatever might prove to be his most controversial pardons for right before he leaves the White House. But this pre-X-mas reported “wave of pardons” could still prove very interesting, especially because it may reveal whether Prez Trump has any considerable interest in using his clemency powers to dole out a lot of (needed) mercy to folks who are not high-profile offenders with high-profile advocates.
So, just to set a marker and to put a prediction on the record, I will forecast that we will see a few dozen clemency grants (and I am rooting for commutations as well as pardons), with only a few of these grants going to high-profile folks. This may be a bit of wishful thinking, as his longest previous list of grants came in February and had 11 recipients, with more than a few famous names. It would be great to see Prez Trump at least double or triple that number today, but I am trying not to get my hopes up.
A few recent related posts:
- Two different takes on Prez Trump’s clemency record as his term nears conclusion
- Prez Trump grants pardon to Michael Flynn … are a lot more to come?
- Lots of (surprising and unsurprising) clemency chatter … and great advocacy for clemency change
- “Presidential Pardons and the Problem of Impunity”
- “The Legality of Presidential Self-Pardons”
- Discussing clemency activity by Prez Trump for six more weeks seems unavoidable, doesn’t it?
- Lots of notable pardon headlines as we approach the last month of Prez Trump’s clemency powers
UPDATE: As of mid-morning on Saturday, December 19, there has been no announcement of any pardons from the White House. So, the right answers to the questions inthe title of this post are technically “nobody” and “zero.”
I suspect the White House is taking a bit more time to check the pardon list, so I remain hopeful we will see a set of clemency grants before Christmas. But with this issue and this Prez, I am never quite sure what is happening or will happen.