In another Twitter tirade towards the Robert Mueller-led investigation into Russian collusion, Trump has announced he has ‘the absolute right’ to pardon himself. The 45th president of the United States has used the presidential power of pardoning indicted individuals with great controversy.
The appointment of Robert Mueller to lead a special counsel investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election has been at the forefront of media interest. So far, former FBI director, Mueller, has charged a number of influential figures in Trump’s campaign circle, as well as 13 Russian citizens and 3 Russian entities. In recent months, the investigation has been riddled with conspiracy theories and alleged biased misconduct from the Democrats. The president has continuously used social media to describe the allegations against his administration as a “witch hunt”. Due to this upset, many pundits have questioned whether he would sack Mueller or pardon himself from the special counsel altogether.
In 2017, Trump pardoned Arizona sheriff, Joe Arpaio, from charges such as unlawful immigration offences. He was found to have unfairly profiled Hispanic residents of Arizona through traffic stops and “immigration roundups”. Furthermore, Trump has pardoned the ultra-conservative filmmaker and Obama critic, Dinesh D’Souza. This has led to accusations that Trump is pardoning supporters of his policies and presidency.
With the supposed advice of “legal scholars”, Trump has now confirmed the right to pardon himself. However, in a series of tweets, he states he has ‘done nothing wrong’ and went on to label the power of the special counsel as ‘unconstitutional’.
