Pit Bull Bobby Mueller
'Both sides are preparing for a possible showdown': Mueller is delving into Trump's pardon power
The special counsel, Robert Mueller, is probing the limits of Trump's pardon power.
There are several unanswered constitutional questions regarding Trump's pardon powers Mueller's team is reportedly looking into, all of which have little precedent.
"I suspect that both sides are preparing for a possible showdown on these issues," said one legal expert.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's team is looking into whether there are any limits on President Donald Trump's pardon powers as the FBI investigates Russia's interference in the 2016 election.
Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Michael Dreeben, a seasoned prosecutor working with Mueller, is delving into past presidential pardons as the special counsel lays out a legal strategy, to ensure that Mueller's case has a solid foundation and can stand up to possible appeals, the report said.
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For instance, the special counsel's team may be examining how a pardon may affect witness testimony. Pardoning a witness voids their Fifth Amendment right not to testify, Mariotti noted. So "can a President pardon someone for a crime, and then pardon them for criminal contempt if they refuse to testify?" he asked. "Any limits on it?"
Jens David Ohlin, the vice dean at Cornell Law School and an expert on criminal law, said the issue of contempt is critical in the Russia investigation and that he would not be surprised if Mueller's team was actively researching it.
There are two types of contempt: criminal and civil. Civil contempt is typically imposed by a judge to induce compliance with his or her orders. For instance, if a witness refuses to testify and defies a judge's order, the judge may have the witness jailed until he or she complies. Criminal contempt is typically initiated by a prosecutor, requires a trial, and its purpose is to punish someone for past misconduct.
If Trump uses his pardon power in either of those cases, it "is incredibly problematic and would aggrandize the executive branch's power" and compromise the judiciary's independence, Ohlin said.
But he emphasized that pardoning someone held in civil contempt would be "especially dangerous, and historically unprecedented, because it would effectively remove the court's authority to enforce its own judgments."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.businessinsider.com/mueller-trump-russia-pardon-power-2017-10
It's not going away.
Mueller is a pit bull.
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Enough popcorn in the world for this.
