Here's how Trump will be federally indicted

[Cyrano]

After he's pardoned, by either himself or Pence, he'll be immune for his past federal crimes.

However, he's got top secret information somewhere in whatever passes for his brain. And he also has a big mouth. It's impossible for him to keep a secret.

Does anyone really believe he won't be monitored by our security agencies after he leaves the White House? At some point, the greedy prick will try to sell some top (military? nuclear?) secrets to the highest bidder. And in so doing, he'll be nailing his own ass to the wall by having committed sedition.

However his pardon came about, it won't mean shit regarding any crime he commits after being pardoned. The very first time he passes top secret info to Moscow, Iran, China, or whoever for a big payday, he's done.

And that will be the end of Donald Trump. He will end not with a bang but a whimper.

[OLDMDDEM]

1. Well put

I think it may take all of a 60 day period for this to happen. He needs money and he needs it NOW.

[sandensea]

2. Vlad and/or Bibi will make sure he doesn't talk.

He'll fall off a window sometime in 2021. Limbaugh will blame Biden.

The madness will outlive the administration, sadly.

[StClone]

7. Trump is an idiot but he knows enough to be dangerous

Pooty will want him to talk-to Putin about American secrets. Trump could use this to black mail the USA. "Free me or I will spill the secrets." That is why solitary confinement for life as soon as he is no longer POTUS would be justified. Won't happen and he will once again be allowed to get out of jail.

[sandensea]

9. A loose cannon if there ever was one

I suspect he won't just be a risk to U.S. intelligence - but to Russian and Isreali intelligence as well.

He not only knows where our bodies are buried - but theirs as well. And both Vlad and (especially) Bibi have some real doozies.

Cheeto won't appreciate being 'abandoned' by them - and they know it.

[Deacon Blue]

15. Putin's Already Got All He Wants

Disgusting Helsinki press conference. Former KGB smoking a cigarette and thinking what a sweet, wide-open endless throat and tight tiny little lips the Oranganus offered. Guilt (or something) was written all over Trump’s ugly face.

And objectively, it is ugly. Hope you got the dough up front Melania, you’re just an unsecured creditor...

[StClone]

3. I think black mailing the USA isn't above him

That is why a life incommunicado soli is a good thing for Mr. Mouth.

[Blue Owl]

4. K&R

[grumpyduck]

5. I dunno...

I really have to question whether he has the mental capacity (or attention span) to remember or understand much top-secret information. So unless it's written down by someone who knows what they're doing, I'm not sure he would have all that much useful stuff to sell or give away.

[Binkie The Clown]

6. Federal pardons won't matter. He will have so many local criminal charges against him...

...what's a few federal charges more or less.

[former9thward]

13. When are all these charges going to come?

[Binkie The Clown]

17. They are already in the works in NY nt

[former9thward]

19. No evidence of that.

The only thing being investigated in NY are civil matters.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

21. investigation for fraud ...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/11/07/trump-vulnerable-he-faces-lawsuits-without-presidential-immunity/6056288002/

James' office is investigating whether the Trump Organization improperly inflated the value of its assets in financial statements to secure loans and get tax benefits. The investigation began in 2019 after Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney, told Congress that the president had lied about his assets.

[former9thward]

23. That is a civil matter not criminal.

Not only that but the Trump Foundation is not even run by Trump.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

24. It is criminal fraud -- being pursued by the prosecutor, not the victims (banks).

The article, of course, could have some things wrong and conflate things that shouldn't be, but who is conducting the investigation and for whom it is being conducted (the citizens of NY) indicates this is not a civil fraud case. The battle to get Trump's tax returns indicates he is involved.

From another source:

Cyrus Vance Jr., the district attorney for Manhattan, is currently investigating what his office calls “possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization.” Beyond Trump’s taxes, Vance appears to be probing whether Trump provided insurers and banks with false statements about his financial position in order to receive lower premiums and interest rates on loans. In certain circumstances, this would be illegal.

https://theintercept.com/2020/10/18/trump-election-crimes-prosecution/

[Patterson]

8. Wasn't Nixon pardoned for future crimes?

[PSPS]

10. No

"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."

[Patterson]

11. Thank you.

[kurtcagle]

12. A pardon is not immunity from prosecution

First, there has to be a crime. In order to be pardoned, you have to have committed a crime and more to the point, you have to have been successfully prosecuted for that crime. If Pence becomes President, he can only pardon Trump on those crimes that Trump has been charged with and prosecuted on that are Federal in scope. As far as I am aware, Trump has never actually been prosecuted for a crime.

So, most of this talk about presidential pardons is moot. Biden will not pardon Trump, which means that he will be liable for criminal prosecution until the next Republican president gets in, assuming they were disposed to do it.

[former9thward]

14. No and No and No.

None of that is true. Pardons can be issued at any time. With or without charges. With or without a trial.

Just some examples: Nixon was pardoned. He was never charged with anything. Ford and Carter pardoned Vietnam draft evaders who went to Canada. They had never been formally charged. Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, a corrupt financier who had been charged and then fled to Switzerland to avoid trial in the U.S.

The right to pardon is absolute in the Constitution. It can't be legally questioned by anyone else.

[Deacon Blue]

16. Been Wondering About This...

I hear both sides, ‘you gotta confess for a pardon’ etc. versus Nixon was never prosecuted, right? And if Ford or Carter told their DOJs not to prosecute, wouldn’t that likewise be obstructing justice?

Scratching my head, and I have a J.D., somewhere.

[former9thward]

18. It is not obstructing justice.

POTUS is the ultimate head of any of the Executive branch departments. They all work for him. A prosecutor has the right to not prosecute anything if s(he) feels it is not in the public interest to do so.

[LiberalFighter]

20. It won't be just Trump. Jared will be doing it too.

Just to be clear. Trump can't pardon himself. I do hope though that he thinks he can and does it.

We can't trust that he will step down to have Pence pardon him. If there are no witnesses besides Pence it should be challenged.

[FakeNoose]

22. I think Ivanka too

They'll figure that the US prosecutors wouldn't charge her or imprison her. So they'll get her to be the bag man and take the risks.