President Donald Trump‘s staff apparently doesn’t have to worry about breaking federal law at all … because a new report says he’s offered to pardon them en masse, repeatedly.
The Wall Street Journal released a new report Friday … claiming POTUS has repeatedly promised top administration officials he will pardon them before he leaves office in January 2029 — usually jokingly, like when he reportedly said recently, “I’ll pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval.”
Unnamed administration officials told WSJ Trump often jokes about matters he later pursues seriously … and the frequent references have led some to believe he might be genuinely considering the pardons. It’s unclear why they’d need them.
Trump’s former press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, says Trump didn’t regularly bring up pardoning staff during his first term as commander-in-chief … but, she does recall a time when she says she told him she was in trouble for violating the Hatch Act — a federal law that limits partisan activities of government officials in their official capacities.
According to Grisham, Trump replied, “Who cares? You know who is the boss of the Hatch Act, and I’ll pardon you.”
Of course, President Joe Biden opened up the pardon floodgates near the end of his time in office … offering pardons to family members like Hunter Biden and loyal allies like Dr. Anthony Fauci … and most modern presidents have similarly issued sweeping pardons and commutations at the ends of their terms.
Since retaking office last year, Trump has already issued 1,600 pardons … many of them for people involved with the January 6th, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building.
And, it sounds like he plans to hand out many, many more before all is said and done.
