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- President Donald Trump discussed with advisors preemptive pardons for his three eldest children — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump — as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
- No president has tried to grant pardons for federal crimes not yet committed. It is legal for a president to pardon family members.
- It remains unclear what potential crimes the president could be preemptively pardoning. The power of the presidential pardon does not extend to state or local crimes.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
President Donald Trump discussed preemptive pardons for his three eldest children, his son-in-law, and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani with advisors, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Trump has expressed concerns to others that the Justice Department, under the incoming Biden administration, could target three of his children — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and Ivanka Trump — and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who serves as a senior advisor at the White House, The Times reported.
The news that Trump was considering pardoning his children was reported earlier Tuesday by ABC News.
While constitutionally, presidents enjoy broad pardoning power, no president has tried to grant pardons for federal crimes not yet committed. It is legal for a president to pardon family members — in 2001, former President Bill Clinton pardoned his brother for a 1985 cocaine possession and drug-trafficking conviction.
It remains unclear what potential crimes the president could be preemptively pardoning, but the power of the presidential pardon does not extend to state or local crimes.
Trump Jr. was involved in the investigation conducted by former special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference into the 2016 election, but he was never charged as a result of the investigation. Giuliani was also under investigation by federal prosecutors for his business dealings in Ukraine, which was a part of the president's impeachment late last year.
Representatives from the White House declined to comment on the report to Business Insider. Giuliani responded to an earlier version of The Times' report on Twitter, writing: "#FakeNews NYT lies again. Never had the discussion they falsely attribute to an anonymous source. Hard to keep up with all their lies." Giuliani's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fox News host Sean Hannity suggested Monday that the president "needs to pardon his whole family and himself because they want this witch hunt to go on in perpetuity."
"They're so full of rage and insanity against the president," Hannity said during his radio program.
Last week, the president pardoned his former national security advisor Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to one count of lying to the FBI in December 2017 as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Earlier this year, Trump also commuted the sentence of former advisor Roger Stone in July.
Read the full story at The New York Times »
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