Trump Says He Can Pardon Himself. Here's What Would Actually Happen.

[0:00] In 1974, the Justice Department put it in writing, [0:04] a president cannot pardon himself. [0:07] This weekend, President Trump was asked if he has that power. [0:10] Do you think you have the power to pardon yourself? [0:12] I do. [0:13] And that wasn't the biggest news. [0:15] In the same interview, [0:16] Trump said he plans a wave of pardons [0:18] for the people around him. [0:20] So what can a pardon actually do? [0:22] What can't it do? [0:24] And could a president really pardon himself? [0:27] The answers are stranger than you'd think. [0:29] Here's what happened. [0:31] On Sunday night, 60 Minutes aired an interview [0:33] with President Trump, [0:34] days after Republicans lost both chambers of Congress. [0:38] In a part of the interview that didn't air on TV, [0:40] Do you expect to issue a lot of pardons [0:42] when you leave office? [0:43] Yes, I do. [0:44] I intend to issue tremendous numbers of pardons. [0:48] In fact, I say oftentimes, [0:50] anybody that got within a thousand miles [0:52] of the Oval Office because... [0:55] Then came the bigger question. [0:56] Do you expect a pardon yourself? [0:59] I don't, but it's certainly... [1:00] Do you think you have the power to pardon yourself? [1:02] I do. [1:04] Here's why this matters right now. [1:06] In January, Democrats take over the House. [1:08] They're already promising investigations [1:10] of Trump's inner circle. [1:12] A week ago, Trump said he would pardon people preemptively, [1:15] if I needed to. [1:17] And he's hinted the list could include Elon Musk. [1:19] So can he really do all of this? [1:22] To answer that, you have to understand one of the strangest powers [1:25] in the Constitution, the pardon power is one sentence long. [1:30] The president shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons [1:34] for offenses against the United States, [1:36] except in cases of impeachment. [1:38] That's it. [1:39] No approval from Congress, no review by the courts. [1:42] And in 1866, the Supreme Court made it even broader. [1:46] It ruled that a pardon can come at any time after a crime is committed, [1:50] even before anyone is charged. [1:53] That's what makes a preemptive pardon possible. [1:56] For most of American history, preemptive pardons were rare. [2:00] That changed fast. [2:01] In December 2024, President Biden pardoned his son Hunter, [2:05] covering more than a decade of possible offenses. [2:08] Then, on his last morning in office, Biden preemptively pardoned [2:12] Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, [2:14] and the members of the January 6th Committee. [2:17] Minutes before Trump was sworn in, [2:19] he pardoned five members of his own family. [2:22] Biden's reason? [2:23] He said they could face politically motivated prosecutions. [2:27] Hours later, President Trump used the same power on a massive scale. [2:31] He pardoned or commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people charged over January 6th. [2:37] So when Trump says he'll protect his own people, his supporters point to Biden. [2:41] Biden did it first, they argue, [2:43] and Trump is simply shielding loyal staff from political revenge. [2:47] His critics say pardoning your own team, in advance, puts them beyond the reach of the law. [2:52] Either way, the precedent now exists. [2:55] Except for one question that has never been answered. [2:58] August 1974. [3:02] Richard Nixon is days away from resigning over Watergate, [3:05] and his lawyers are looking for a way out. [3:08] On August 5th, Nixon's own Justice Department weighed in. [3:11] Its Office of Legal Counsel wrote that, [3:13] Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, [3:17] the president cannot pardon himself. [3:19] Four days later, Nixon resigned. [3:22] One month after that, his successor, Gerald Ford, went on television and granted Nixon a full, [3:28] free, and absolute pardon for any federal crimes he committed or may have committed as president. [3:34] The backlash was immediate. [3:36] Ford's approval rating fell from 71% to about 50%. [3:40] Two years later, he lost the presidency to Jimmy Carter. [3:44] Many historians believe the pardon was a big reason why. [3:47] So Nixon never had to test the self-pardon. [3:50] And neither has anyone since. [3:52] In 2018, Trump wrote that he has the absolute right to pardon myself. [3:56] But no president has ever done it. [3:58] And no court has ever ruled on it. [4:01] If one ever did, the Justice Department's opinion says it's invalid. [4:05] But that opinion isn't law. [4:06] It would come down to the Supreme Court, [4:08] the same court that ruled in 2024 that presidents have broad immunity for official acts. [4:14] But here's what almost nobody talks about. [4:17] Even a perfectly valid pardon has limits. [4:19] And some of them could backfire. [4:23] Limit number one, impeachment. [4:25] The Constitution excludes it by name. [4:28] A pardon can't stop the House from impeaching an official, [4:31] or the Senate from removing them. [4:33] That's why the Pete Hegseth fight playing out this week is beyond the reach of any pardon. [4:38] Limit number two, state crimes. [4:40] A presidential pardon only covers federal offenses. [4:43] A state prosecutor in New York or Georgia doesn't have to care. [4:47] Limit number three, the future. [4:49] A pardon can only cover crimes that have already happened. [4:53] It can't be a license for what comes next. [4:55] And limit number four is the strangest. [4:58] In 1915, the Supreme Court said a pardon carries an imputation of guilt, [5:03] and accepting one is a confession of it. [5:06] That case started when a New York newspaper editor refused a pardon from President Woodrow Wilson [5:11] rather than look guilty. [5:12] Then there's the trap. [5:14] The Fifth Amendment lets you refuse to testify if your answers could incriminate you. [5:18] But once you're pardoned for federal crimes, you can't be prosecuted for them. [5:22] So in many cases, you can't plead the Fifth about them anymore. [5:26] Which means a Democratic House could subpoena pardoned officials [5:29] and force them to answer questions under oath. [5:32] Refuse? [5:32] And that's contempt of Congress. [5:34] A brand new crime that the old pardon doesn't cover. [5:37] Lie? [5:38] And that's perjury. [5:39] A pardon can stop a prosecution. [5:41] It can't stop the questions. [5:43] So what happens next? [5:47] For now, the pardon power is Trump's alone. [5:50] And it lasts until he leaves office in January 2029. [5:54] Congress can't block a pardon. [5:56] Courts have almost never second-guessed one. [5:59] And once it's granted, most legal experts say no future president can take it back. [6:04] Trump himself has tested that idea. [6:06] He's declared some of Biden's pardons void because they were signed by Autopen. [6:11] Most legal experts say a president has no power to cancel a predecessor's pardons. [6:16] But if that claim ever held up, every pardon Trump signs could face the same question. [6:21] Here's the bottom line. [6:22] In 1974, the system answered the question of a president's power over his own fate [6:27] with a resignation and a pardon from someone else. [6:29] 52 years later, the question is back. [6:32] And this time, it may not be answered by a lawyer's memo. [6:36] It may be answered by a president. [6:38] So tell me in the comments, should a president be able to pardon himself? [6:42] Yes or no? [6:43] And if you want to know what happens when the House votes on Pete Hegseth this week, [6:47] subscribe so you don't miss it.