WHAT’S THE STORY?

UNDER the Constitution of the US, power is granted to the president alone to pardon federal offenders and either give them a full and free pardon or commute their sentences.

The power to pardon is virtually unqualified, the Constitution saying: “The President ... shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”

There have been more than 20,000 presidential pardons in US history, though some were “blanket” pardons for a whole class of offenders. The latest presidential pardon, and what could be the first of many as President Donald Trump gets near his exit from office, has gone to Trump’s former national security adviser, retired general Mike Flynn. It has caused a furore in the US, with the now usual split along party lines on the issue – the Democrats hate Flynn’s pardon, the Republicans are all for it.

REMIND US WHAT FLYNN DID?

DURING the Department of Justice inquiry into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying twice to the FBI amid an investigation about his correspondence with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. He then tried to withdraw his plea and the legal arguments began.

Note those words “pleaded guilty”. He was caught bang to rights, as they say, but announcing the pardon on Wednesday, the White House made Flynn out to be a Mr Goody Two Shoes who had been unjustly persecuted.

The White House stated: “He is an innocent man. Even the FBI agents who interviewed General Flynn did not think he was lying. Multiple investigations have produced evidence establishing that General Flynn was the victim of partisan government officials engaged in a coordinated attempt to subvert the election of 2016.”

Utter hogwash, for if he was innocent, why did he plead guilty? The fact is that he is now a free man and was never sentenced for his crime.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement: “Sadly, this pardon is further proof that Trump plans to use his final days in office to undermine the rule of law in the wake of his failed presidency.”

House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler said in a statement: “This pardon is undeserved, unprincipled, and one more stain on President Trump’s rapidly diminishing legacy.”

WHO ELSE WILL TRUMP PARDON?

STRANGELY enough, Donald Trump has used the presidential pardon and commutation power a lot less than people expected. He has pardoned 28 people and commuted 16 sentences – Barack Obama granted 212 pardons and 1715 commutations, the most since president Harry S Truman.

President Jimmy Carter granted the most pardons of all in the 20th century – he gave a blanket pardon to all Vietnam War draft dodgers. The most high profile of Trump’s commutations was for Roger Stone, a long-time adviser, who was convicted of lying to Congress and witness tampering. He had his prison sentence commuted. There was a pardon for Arizona’s Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt after defying an order to stop patrols targeting suspected undocumented immigrants.

Former vice-president Dick Cheney’s chief of staff Scooter Libby, who was found guilty of lying about leaks to the media, was also pardoned. Pardons will likely go to foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and alleged fraudster Steve Bannon, and many, many more.

CAN TRUMP PARDON HIMSELF?

PROBABLY not but then no previous President ever behaved like The Donald. One theory is that Trump might find some hogwash reason to resign, probably in protest at getting beaten in a stolen election, and then Michael Pence would step up to the presidency and give Trump a presidential pardon for every offence he’s ever committed, whether proven, alleged or otherwise.

It’s been done before. When Richard Nixon became the only man to resign the presidency after Watergate, vice-president Gerald Ford succeeded him in the White House. A deal had been arranged where Tricky Dicky would stand down and get a pardon. On September 9, 1974, Ford gave Nixon a full and free pardon before he’d even been charged.

Ford said he did it in part to heal the country. Maybe that will be President-elect Joe Biden’s approach when the doors to Trump’s empire are knocked on by law enforcement officers, but then again possibly not.