Donald Trump says he has 'absolute right' to pardon himself

Experts on constitutional law appear divided on the issue

Donald Trump has claimed he has the “absolute right” to pardon himself when it comes to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, but insisted he did not need to as he has done nothing wrong.

In a morning tweet, the president said: “As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?”

Mr Trump has repeatedly called the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which is also looking into any possible collusion by Trump campaign officials, a “witch hunt” and returned to that theme in his tweet. He said: “In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!”

A few minutes later, he repeated his attack on Mr Mueller, questioning the constitutional basis of the probe. Mr Mueller was appointed by deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein 12 months ago, after Mr Trump fired FBI director James Comey. His attorney general, Jeff Sessions, had already recused himself from the matter, having failed to report meetings he had with Russian officials.

“The appointment of the special counsel is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Despite that, we play the game because I, unlike the Democrats, have done nothing wrong,” claimed the president.

The tweets come a day after one of the president’s lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, said Mr Trump could pardon himself if he so wanted.

In a round of TV interviews, the former New York mayor also detailed how the president’s legal team would likely fight any summons to testify before Mr Mueller’s probe into possible obstruction of justice.

“We will say ‘hey, you got everything you need… what do you need us for?’” Mr Giuliani said during an interview on ABC’s This Week.

His remarks came after The New York Times detailed a memorandum from Mr Trump’s lawyers arguing against Mr Mueller’s team compelling Mr Trump to testify – foreshadowing a potential historic clash as Mr Mueller seeks to determine whether the president hindered the probe into alleged Russian election interference and possible collusion with his own campaign.

Mr Giuliani’s comments set off a round of debate among legal and constitutional scholars. But the former New York mayor also admitted the limits to Mr Trump’s power; while he may technically have the legal right to pardon himself, doing so would carry with it a huge political price.

“I think the political ramifications would be tough. Pardoning other people is one thing, pardoning yourself is tough,” he said.

Later, speaking to NBC, he went even further, saying: “Pardoning himself would be unthinkable and probably lead to immediate impeachment. And he has no need to do it, he’s done nothing wrong.

Eric M Freedman, professor of constitutional law at New York’s Hofstra University, told The Independent that experts were divided on the issue of whether a president could pardon him or herself, and that the matter was “unsettled”.

“Those who established the constitution wanted to allow the president maximum flexibility,” said Mr Freedman.

“On the other side, you have those who point out that it is a fundamental basis of common law that a person cannot be their own judge.”

Among those who believe a president’s powers are limited in this area is Brian Kalt, Professor of law at Michigan State University. Mr Kalt said there were several reasons why he believed a president could not pardon himself, including comments made by the constitution’s framers about the option of impeachment should a president seek to pardon himself.

“Nobody knows if can pardon himself or not. There are arguments on both sides,” he said.

“All people can say is what a court should do or might do. The answer is, he can try. It might work, it might not.”

Several pardons already issued by Mr Trump, including one last week for Dinesh D’Souza, a conservative pundit convicted of campaign finance crimes, have also raised questions about his use of the presidential pardon power and spurred some constitutional scholars, legal analysts and Democratic politicians to accuse him of undermining the rule of law with pardons based on political considerations.