Donald Trump Could Be Stopped From Pardoning Himself And His Family Over Mueller Investigation
This year doesn't feel like it's properly got going yet, does it? Everyone's still at half-speed until January gets into double figures, but Donald Trump's year has got off to a worse start than most.
The Democrats have gone in with both feet on the first day of their Congressional majority, and want to cut off any chance of Trump getting away with any consequences from the Mueller investigation.
Steve Cohen, a longstanding Democrat Congressman for Tennessee, has introduced constitutional amendments which would stop Trump pardoning himself or his family for any of the fallout from the Mueller inquiry.
"Presidents should not pardon themselves, their families, their administration or campaign staff," Cohen said. "This constitutional amendment would expressly prohibit this and any future president, from abusing the pardon power."
Trump said last June that he could definitely pardon himself if he wanted to - he definitely doesn't, because he's not done anything wrong, obviously, he's just saying that he absolutely could if he wanted to - which set alarm bells ringing for Trump critics.
Cohen's also put forward an amendment which would scrap the electoral college system, which 2012 Donald Trump would have backed wholeheartedly.
The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2012
2016 Donald Trump would be slightly more circumspect though.
The Electoral College is actually genius in that it brings all states, including the smaller ones, into play. Campaigning is much different!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2016
It's not exactly likely that either of Cohen's amendments are going to go anywhere other than into the bin, as they need to be voted through by two-thirds of both Congress and the Senate and then agreed to by three-quarters of the states. He's dropped slightly grandstanding bits of legislation before - he tried to move for impeachment back in November 2017, which obviously didn't quite happen - which mark him out as a fan of the kind of trolling you just don't see anymore. You know, trolling in its original sense, where you appear to very sincerely believe something you don't to wind someone up and make a point, rather than the kind of trolling where you DM someone about burning their house down and putting their kids through a woodchipper.
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