Trump Is Already Discussing Preemptive Pardons For His Lawless Administration
The revelation comes as Pete Hegseth faces scrutiny for a possible war crime, and as a judge pursues a contempt inquiry into the defiance of his order.
Since he was sworn back into office nearly a year ago, Donald Trump and several administration officials have already informally discussed the idea of preemptively pardoning an array of Trump advisers, policymakers, and others who the president believes will likely be criminally investigated once Democrats are back in power, three sources with knowledge of the matter tell Zeteo.
The sources stress that the conversations – some of which included Trump, some of which were just among senior aides, federal appointees, and Republicans close to the White House – have been sporadic and preliminary. It is likely that any sweeping action of this sort would not occur until shortly before the inauguration of a future Democratic president-elect. If such action is taken, it is unclear how lengthy Trump’s preemptive-pardon list would ultimately run, though sources say that any list would likely include people such as White House official Stephen Miller, Trump’s policy architect who is behind many (if not all) of the actions and policies that critics have called out for being openly, gratuitously lawless.
Some of these intra-administration discussions were sparked, sources say, after certain Democrats publicly suggested that the Supreme Court gifted Trump with broad presidential immunity – but that his underlings were not shielded from accountability. “They’re not always going to be in office,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in October. “The people who serve for the president, including all the way down to ICE agents, can be held accountable when there’s a change of administration.”