Since returning to office for a second term last year, President Donald Trump has used his authority to issue pardons to reward friends and allies, campaign donors, and the thousands of supporters who stormed the Capitol during a violent riot after he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Now, he is reportedly promising to issue more to his top aides as a way of shielding them from any consequences for potentially illegal acts committed during the remaining years of his administration.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump has repeatedly promised pardons to administration officials on multiple occasions, including during one recent meeting at which he reportedly said he’d “pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval” before he leaves office in January 2029.
The Journal also reported that he’d had a separate conversation with aides in his private dining room during which he’d mused about holding a news conference to announce the mass pardons in the waning days of his administration.
More follows…
