Learned Counselors:
This question has intrigued me for some time. It also intrigued the MSNBC news network. They went to a Constitutional Law Specialist at Harvard Law School.
He researched the matter. Nothing turned up in US legal precedents going back for centuries. He had to go back 410 years ago to a British Common Law case that addressed the issue of the right of a sovereign (king or queen) to issue a pardon.
The British High Court ruled that the sovereign had the power to pardon anyone except himself or herself. The court reasoned that when a defendant applies to the sovereign for a pardon, the sovereign assumes the position like a judge in a court case. The nature of the crime and the particulars of the defendant are considered by the sovereign as if he or she were a judge in a court. The justices reasoned that a defendant cannot act as his own judge in a trial or court action.
Trump will need to resign and allow Pence to become president and issue the pardon.
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