Giuliani Uses Extreme Example to Illustrate Trump's Powers

Suggests Trump couldn't be indicted even if he shot James Comey
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 4, 2018 6:11 AM CDT
Giuliani Uses Extreme Example to Illustrate Trump's Powers
Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for President Trump, speaks at the Iran Freedom Convention for Human Rights and democracy in Washington.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Rudy Giuliani appeared on the Sunday talk shows over the weekend to make the point that President Trump's constitutional powers are so sweeping that he could avoid legal trouble while in office. Giuliani said Trump could theoretically pardon himself in any situation, and he used an extreme hypothetical in an interview with HuffPost, suggesting that the president could not be indicted even if he shot James Comey. In all his interviews, however, Giuliani stressed that he was sure Trump would never pardon himself, because the move could lead to impeachment. “It’s not going to happen. It’s a hypothetical point,” he said on NBC. And to HuffPost: “If he shot James Comey, he’d be impeached the next day,” Giuliani said. “Impeach him, and then you can do whatever you want to do to him."

His comments come in the wake of a New York Times report that Trump's legal team (before Giuliani came aboard) wrote a memo arguing that the president could not have obstructed justice because the president is in charge of federal investigations. "The president is not saying he is going to pardon himself," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told CNN, per the Hill. Trump ally Chris Christie agreed. "Listen, there’s no way that’ll happen, and the reason it won’t is because then it becomes a political problem,” said the former New Jersey governor on ABC. “If the president were to pardon himself, he’ll get impeached.” The Washington Post, meanwhile, talks to a Fordham law professor who disagrees that a president could pardon himself, in part because the Constitution stipulates that the president "shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed." (More President Trump stories.)

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