Giuliani Suggests Constitution Doesn’t Forbid Trump From Pardoning Himself

Chris White

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now part of President Donald Trump’s legal team, said Sunday that the U.S. Constitution does not forbid the president from pardoning himself.

“He’s not, but he probably does,” Giuliani told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in response to a question about Trump’s ability to pardon himself. “He has no intention of pardoning himself, but that doesn’t say he can’t.”

“That’s what the Constitution says, and if you want to change it, change it,” Giuliani said about whether the president can pardon himself in an investigation that he himself has responsibility over.

His remarks come one day after The New York Times reported Trump’s legal team floated the possibility of using executive privilege to avoid a grand jury subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller.

Mueller has intimated in the past that he wants to interview Trump to determine if he had criminal intent to obstruct the investigation into his associates’ possible links to Russia’s election meddling. Mueller will have to decide whether to press ahead with a historic grand jury subpoena if Trump’s team denies him access to the president.

The memo claims Trump’s position as the head of the government makes it difficult for him to prepare and sit for an interview. Mueller must therefore prove the president is the only person who can provide information investigators seek, according to the memo, which was authored by John Dowd and Jay Sekulow, both of whom acted as Trump’s lawyers at the time.

“The president’s prime function as the chief executive ought not be hampered by requests for interview,” they wrote. “Having him testify demeans the office of the president before the world.”

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