President Pence

[exoskeleton]

My guess is that on Jan. 18 Trump resigns. The next day President Pence gives Trump a pardon. What says you?

[bullimiami]

1. i think so too. trump wont want to chance a self-pardon.

[zaj]

2. That would require a confession, which could be

... evidence in state criminal investigations.

[madaboutharry]

10. Not so.

Nixon never admitted to anything.

[zaj]

18. He did... legally.

The Supreme Court, in Burdick v. United States (1915), ruled that accepting a pardon "requir(es) him to confess his guilt in order to avoid a conviction of it". And that a pardon was an "imputation of guilt; acceptance a confession of it".

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3928528117882105076

"This brings us to the differences between legislative immunity and a pardon. They are substantial. The latter carries an imputation of guilt; acceptance a confession of it. The former has no such imputation or confession. It is tantamount to the silence of the witness. It is non-committal. It is the unobtrusive act of the law giving protection against a sinister use of his testimony, not like a pardon requiring him to confess his guilt in order to avoid a conviction of it."

[madaboutharry]

20. I thought you meant before hand not in conjunction with.

[zaj]

21. A Trump pardon creates evidence for state prosecution

[soothsayer]

3. Doesn't he need to be charged to be pardoned?

And can’t be charged (he sez) cuz president?

[yellowcanine]

11. Nixon had not been charged. It hasn't been tested though.

If Ford had not pardoned Nixon he might have beaten Carter imo.

[Zambero]

4. And Pence goes on to a classic Gerald Ford 2024 belly-flop fail!

[MLAA]

5. Wouldn't it be something if 3 day president pence

didn’t pardon impotus and his spawn?

[Totally Tunsie]

19. That would be hilarious...the only time Pencie shows a spine.

If Chump were to resign, there'd be no reason to *fear* him and what he could or couldn't do at that point. Pencie could just adopt "If he's gone, he's gone" and just leave it at that. There would be a parade of people getting a good laugh from it!

[MLAA]

24. And everyone would say he pulled a 'Trump' 😬

[Totally Tunsie]

25. LOL - Trust NO ONE!

[SomedayKindaLove]

6. My guess?

Trump pardons himself and then steps down an hour before before inauguration and Pence pardons him as well. The double pardon!

Gotta cover your bases.

[Laelth]

7. I think Trump would prefer to pardon himself.

I can’t see him resigning.

-Laelth

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

14. Even with the R SCOTUS I don't think he would take that gamble.

A self-pardon has never been done and there is some question of its constitutionality. I don't think he would want to take the chance of a SCOTUS rejection.

The pardon of Nixon worked and is a precedent.

[Laelth]

17. Trump has never believed that the rules apply to him.

Besides, the case would have to go through multiple levels of lower Courts before the SCOTUS could rule on the Constitutionality of Trump’s self-pardon. If it did get that far, I can easily see the SCOTUS ruling for Trump in the interest of national healing and peace. They don’t want to see Trumpers marching in the streets to vindicate their poor, mistreated, orange martyr.

-Laelth

[yellowcanine]

8. Pence would be crazy to do that.

And I do not believe he would. He is way too cautious. Notice that he is saying nada about Trump's wild rants.

[walkingman]

9. I'm not sure he can be pardoned for a crime by the SDNY unless it is a federal crime that has been

litigated? Once we have access to his tax returns I feel confident there will be prosecutable crime. The real question is does the political elite pursue them. I say send him to jail or we will never be rid of his sorry ass. He will just become another Rush Limpbaugh or Alex Jones.

[sarge43]

12. I'm sure it's been considered in some form or another.

That won't stop the NY AG nor will it stop all that personal debt from coming due. Over the years Trump has tap danced into a mine field of his own making; don't think he'll be able to tap dance out.

As been noted before, 3 Nov 2020 probably was the last good day of the rest of his life.

[Buckeyeblue]

13. I think he'll resign way before then.

He won't have any interest in sticking around as a lame duck for 2+ months.

[PuppyBismark]

15. Been saying that for months

[Silent3]

16. Unless Trump has a bail-out deal from Putin, where Putin pays him off and gives him asylum...

...in exchange for sticking around and fucking over the US even more, I can easily see Trump bailing out much sooner. Whether Pence would give Trump a pardon on the way out the door, I don't have enough sense of Pence's levels of sycophancy vs. shear opportunism to guess how willing he'd be.

[NNadir]

22. He still needs to address his violations of NY law. Pence can't pardon that.

[OnDoutside]

23. Yes but at least he takes the Federal violations off the table. I think it's more than a possibility