Trump pardoning himself is 'self-executing impeachment'
Known for his crusade against corruption and white-collar crime, former federal prosecutor Preet Bharara says US President Donald Trump would effectively ensure his impeachment if he tried to pardon himself in the ongoing Mueller probe.
Donald Trump's lawyers appear to argue that he can pardon himself in a letter they have sent to special counsel Robert Mueller. The New York Times published a 20-page letter to Mueller by Trump’s attorneys where they argue that he could not possibly have committed obstruction in the Russia investigation because the Constitution empowers him to "terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon if he so desired."
Bharara, the former US attorney for the Southern District of New York, told CNN that, “I think if the president decided he was going to pardon himself, I think that's almost self-executing impeachment. Whether or not there is a minor legal argument that some law professor somewhere in a legal journal can make that the president can pardon [himself] that is not what the framers could have intended."
Asked about the letter, Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani said on Sunday that the President is not going to pardon himself but "probably does" have the power to do it.
Bharara said he does not believe Giuliani's assertion that the president is not considering granting himself a pardon.
“The second thing is, when Rudy Giuliani says… the president is not contemplating [pardoning himself],” the former US Attorney continued, “I have no faith in that whatsoever.”
Crusader US attorney
Bharara who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017 earned a reputation as a "crusader" prosecutor for fighting corruption, financial fraud and violent crime.
He made a name for himself as one of America’s most aggressive and outspoken prosecutors of public corruption and Wall Street crime.
Under Bharara, his office prosecuted Democratic and Republican officials with equal ardor, most notably Sheldon Silver, the former Democratic speaker of New York’s Assembly, and Dean G. Skelos, the former Republican majority leader of the State Senate.
On March 2017, after initially being asked by Trump to keep is post, Bharara was fired as he refused to cede to Attorney General Jeff Sessions's order for all remaining 46 US Attorneys appointed during Barack Obama's presidency to resign.
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