Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz delivered a measured response on Monday to the notion the President Donald Trump could pardon himself.
Presidential attorney Rudy Giuliani made the claim on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday morning, telling George Stephanopoulos that Trump had not done anything wrong and had no intention of issuing a pardon to himself — but that he certainly had the power to do so.
JUST IN: Does Pres. Trump have the power to pardon himself?
“He’s not, but he probably does,” Rudy Giuliani tells @GStephanopoulos. “He has no intention of pardoning himself, but that doesn’t say he can’t.” https://t.co/YQ29ClaVMa pic.twitter.com/jDXl1jOnuV
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 3, 2018
(RELATED: Giuliani Suggests Constitution Doesn’t Forbid Trump From Pardoning Himself)
President Trump shared the sentiment, tweeting the same claim on Sunday morning as well.
As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2018
Cruz appeared to agree on technicality, saying that the Constitution grants the president the right to issue pardons and lays out no stipulation regarding who can be pardoned — unless the person in question had been impeached.
On the question of whether a president can pardon himself, we’re seeing an abundance of knee-jerk partisanship and dishonest journalism.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 5, 2018
Virtually every Dem is saying “of course not, the president can’t pardon himself (mostly because we hate Trump).” On the other hand, some Rs are saying “of course the president can.”
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 5, 2018
If we were actually focusing on the Constitution, the answer would be more complicated. The text of the Constitution provides, the President “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 5, 2018
That text has no limitation on WHOM can be pardoned (although nobody can be pardoned from impeachment or for non-federal offenses).
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 5, 2018
Cruz noted that scholars in the past have argued that Presidents cannot pardon themselves, basing their arguments on the notion that no man can serve as a judge at his own trial — but came full circle to again point out that whatever the ethical implications, the president is not Constitutionally barred from pardoning himself.
However, in the 1970s, the Department of Justice did issue a legal opinion that the president cannot pardon himself, relying on the principle that nobody can be the judge in his own case.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 5, 2018
That legal principle has a long and venerable history, but it is not reflected in the constitutional text.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 5, 2018
Whether the Department of Justice opinion is right is an open legal question, with scholars on both sides of the political spectrum disagreeing in good faith.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 5, 2018
Cruz then criticized those who were attacking him for “taking 18 seconds to respond” when they shouted the question at him as he hurried to a meeting, saying that he had intentionally ignored the question. Calling for a deeper constitutional analysis, he said, “This is not a question one should answer based on knee-jerk partisanship.”
The Texas senator concluded by saying that the debate was purely “academic” anyway, as the President had not committed any crime that would require a pardon.
At this point, none of the investigations has demonstrated any criminal conduct needing to be pardoned, as much as those who hate the president might wish otherwise.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) June 5, 2018