Donald Trump Declares He Has "Absolute Right" To Pardon Himself

Donald Trump

Earlier today, Donald Trump declared via Twitter that he has "the absolute right to PARDON" himself.

The Trumpster goes on to wonder, "But why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?"

It's hard to get beyond the idea that Trump is evening TALKING about his ability to pardon himself...

If you're innocent, why would you even bring up pardoning yourself???

Just, odd.

As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2018

Under this thinking, why didn't Bill Clinton "absolutely pardon" himself?

Or, why didn't Richard Nixon just pardon himself and remain president?

Thankfully, I'm not the only one who thinks this was weird:

The Supreme Court has interpreted the acceptance of a pardon as an admission of guilt.

So Trump's pardon of Trump would be Trump's confession. https://t.co/ZQ9IRNSCGX

— Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence) June 4, 2018

The real end game begins: Trump asserts the "absolute" right to pardon himself only because he knows what he did, and he knows he's going to be indicted for it. New strategy is: "Ok, yea I did it, but you can't get me because I'm president." The ultimate test of the rule of law.

— Tony Schwartz (@tonyschwartz) June 4, 2018

WHY DOES trump KEEP SAYING “ I HAVE THE ABSOLUTE RIGHT 2 PARDON MYSELF”,UNLESS
HE KNOWS HES GUILTY‼️
WHY WOULD AN INNOCENT MAN KEEP SAYING WHAT HE HAS”THE POWER 2 DO”, UNLESS HE ANTICIPATES WHAT HE’LL B FORCED 2 DO⁉️psWHAT ABOUT”IM LOOKING 4WARD 2 TESTIFY B4 MUELLER”⁉️

— Cher (@cher) June 4, 2018

Asked why Trump thinks he has an absolute right to pardon himself, Sarah Sanders says, "Thankfully the president hasn't done anything wrong and wouldn't have any need for a pardon." Pressed, she repeats that line nearly word for word.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) June 4, 2018

Sarah Sanders on Trump's claim that he has an absolute right to pardon himself:

"Thankfully, the president hasn't done anything wrong and wouldn't have any need for a pardon." pic.twitter.com/GO9kRjkJ4m

— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) June 4, 2018