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Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda
He has to be convicted of something before being able to be pardoned, and for some reason a sitting president has been declared to be immune from any criminal charges. When he's no longer president is when you'll see NY state start actual criminal proceedings against him, that is if Trump and Barr don't manage to purge every honest judge left
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Based on the Nixon pardon you don’t need to be convicted to be Pardoned.
Quote:
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Now, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9,1974.
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Now this was never tested in the courts but there is precedent for this type of Pardon.
https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/li...hes/740061.asp
Though as others have stated presidential pardons only cover federal crimes and not state ones. Though there is an interesting case where if a crime was committed and you could be charged with both the state crime and the federal crime the federal crime takes precident and you can’t be convicted of both. So one thing Trump May be able to do with a presidential pardon is to argue that the crimes he is charged with in New York State could actually be federal charges and therefore would be covered under the federal pardon.
So to truly get trump you need to find a crime at the state level that isn’t a crime at the federal level in the event that Teump gets a Nixon style Pardon.
Edit: I think I have the double jeopardy federal state thing wrong. In the Manafort case it appears that the court ruled they were allowed to pursue state level charges.
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5178328