New York Attorney General Letitia James believes President Donald Trump will resign to allow Vice President Mike Pence to pardon him.
James, who is pursing a civil investigation of the president, made her comments during a Tuesday interview on the ABC show, “The View.”
“So, he can preemptively pardon individuals,” she said. “The vast majority of legal scholars have indicated that he cannot pardon himself,” James said. “What he could do is step down and allow the vice president — Vice President (Mike) Pence — to pardon him.
“In all likelihood, I suspect that he (Trump) will pardon his family members — his children, his son-in-law — and individuals in his administration, as well as some of his close associates. And then I suspect, at some point in time, he will step down and allow the vice president to pardon him.”
“Now, it’s important to understand he is pardoned from federal crimes. But he is not pardoned from state crimes. Last year, I introduced a bill in the state legislature which would close the pardon loophole, so that individuals such as the President of the United States would not evade justice. The state legislature … I’m so happy they passed that bill and it is now the law in the state of New York. President Trump cannot avoid justice in the great state of New York.”
The New York Times reported that Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s attorney, had discussed being issued a preemptive pardon with the president. Giuliani has denied the story.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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