Pardon offer may have violated federal bribery laws
By Randall D. Eliason
August 30 at 6:40 PM
This week, President Trump reportedly told aides that he wants to expedite construction of his border wall and that if they have to break any laws to get it done, not to worry: He will pardon them. Democratic members of Congress vowed to investigate this alleged abuse of power. The White House quickly responded that Trump was just joking, the apparent go-to defense whenever the president is caught saying something outrageous or potentially criminal. But, if serious, Trump’s offer would be more than a flagrant abuse of the pardon power — it could also violate federal bribery law. That has implications not only for impeachment inquiries, but also for potential future criminal proceedings.
Trump’s exercise of the pardon power has been unconventional, to say the least. He has largely disregarded the established processes for reviewing pardon requests through the Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, seemingly preferring to act on personal whim or political sympathies. And he has granted pardons to some controversial figures, including former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza.
But it’s one thing to flout normal procedures for granting pardons to those already convicted of past crimes unrelated to the president. It’s quite another for a president to use the promise of future pardons to encourage unlawful behavior by members of his own administration. The latter is truly corrupt: signaling to aides that they may freely disregard the nation’s laws because the rules don’t apply to those who do the president’s bidding ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/30/trumps-pardon-offer-may-have-violated-federal-bribery-laws/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Also the (i was only kidding bullshit) should NOT be a legal defense! 
What's anyone going to do about it? 
