thing off the menu of mayhem.”
There is little doubt Trump will use his pardon
power liberally in his waning days, given the litany
of federal and state-level investigations underway
into possible illicit foreign business, financial and
political dealings that could ensnare son Donald Jr.,
daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, as
well as high-profile associates like Rudy Giuliani. All
departing presidents step up their pardon activity
as lame ducks, but experts are bracing for Trump
to push the limits of that constitutional authority
by attempting to grant blanket all-inclusive pardons
to the likes of his 2016 campaign chairman Paul
Manafort, political adviser Roger Stone and his for-
mer National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, all of
whom have been convicted of various crimes.
It’s unclear whether a president can pardon him-
self or whether blanket immunity exists because
neither has been tested in court; no one mounted
a legal challenge to President Gerald Ford’s decision
in 1974 to grant his disgraced predecessor, Richard
Nixon, “a full, free, and absolute pardon” for “all of-
fenses against the United States” committed during
his presidential tenure. (Even if Trump attempts a1869
President Andrew
Johnson did not attend
successor Ulysses S.
Grant’s inauguration
because Grant refused
to sit next to him in a
carriage on the way
to the ceremony.1876-77
Disputes over 20 elec-
toral college votes in
four states and charges
of voter fraud made it
unclear who would be
taking the oath of ofɿce
until two days before
the inauguration. It was
Rutherford B. Hayes.1933
A gunman in Florida at-
tempted to assassinate
President-elect Franklin
Delano Roosevelt but
instead shot and mor-
tally wounded Chicago
Mayor Anton Cermak.
1961
On January 3rd, less
than three weeks
before President John
F. Kennedy was sworn
in, incumbent President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
severed diplomatic ties
with Cuba. That set
the stage for two key
foreign policy crises of
JFK’s tenure, the Bay of
Pigs debacle and the
Cuban Missile Crisis.2000-01
After disputed election
results between Al
Gore and George W.
Bush shortened the
transition period by
several weeks, staffers
for outgoing President
Bill Clinton removed the
W’s off keyboards at the
White House, part of a
series of antics that also
including gluing draw-
ers shut and grafɿti in
the men’s bathroom.TIM
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