White House board and Barr warned Trump not to forgive himself

White House board and Barr warned Trump not to forgive himself

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Barr conveyed this position to Trump before resigning last month, sources say.

Trump has raised in recent weeks the idea of ​​forgiving himself, as well as members of his family, although it is not known if he has done so since Wednesday’s attack on Capitol Hill. Trump was heavily criticized for his role in inciting the attack. Over the weekend, the acting US attorney for the District of Columbia told NPR that the main prosecutors will follow any investigative leads they can to determine the role of the people in the attack, even if it involves examining government officials.

White House officials are also contemplating how the federal insurgency investigation affects other pardons that Trump discussed, such as that of his personal lawyer Rudy Guiliani, who called for “trial for combat” at Wednesday’s rally before the Capitol was invaded.

“The situation in DC raised questions within the White House, even about pardons,” said a person close to the White House.

Additional pardons are expected from the White House before Trump steps down next week.

CNN did not receive an immediate response from the White House and Barr did not immediately provide a comment to CNN.

Trump probably can't forgive himself. He can still try
Presidential pardoning power has not been tested and sources say that both Barr and Cipollone thought it would be a bad idea for Trump to try to forgive himself. Barr believes that a 1974 Justice Department legal memorandum stating that the president cannot forgive himself must be maintained, and that Cipollone did not ask the Justice Department’s Legal Advisory Office to reexamine the issue, according to two sources. .

The memo says, however, that an incumbent president can resign and be pardoned by his vice president as soon as that person assumes the presidency. It happened when President Gerald Ford forgave Richard Nixon in 1974.

Two separate sources close to Vice President Mike Pence say it is highly unlikely that Pence will grant Trump a pardon in this scenario. Pence was a loyal supporter of the president, but now he is frustrated and disappointed with Trump for his behavior around the insurrection and for not calling to see how he was during and after the riots, several sources said.

Trump can still forgive himself, even if his government officials do not approve of the action. Personal forgiveness would only extend to federal crimes and would not protect Trump from state actions, including an investigation by New York state prosecutors into Trump’s personal and corporate finances.

Normally, the White House Counselor’s Office would ask the Justice Department’s Legal Counsel’s Office to issue an opinion on important legal issues. This office is responsible for giving opinions on the power of the Executive and, in general, tends to have a broad view of the presidential power.

Barr and Cipollone’s opposition to Trump’s forgiveness is notable because they were both staunch supporters of Trump, exercising expansive executive authority during the Russian investigation and the 2020 impeachment process because of their connection with the Ukrainian president.

Both men recently argued with the president about their electoral lie. Barr left office in December after publicly declaring that there was no widespread electoral fraud and Cipollone considered resigning in recent weeks after strongly disagreeing with the president and his desire to use his office to overturn election results.

Evan Perez from CNN contributed to this report.

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