This has often entered the minds of the reality based community but is not even wispered in the Main$treamMedia. In reading some of the many comments, it is noted that Bush can pardon himself in all cases except for Impeachment. Even tho no president has ever done this, it will be a given if sufficient grounds for Impeachment are not obtained. The October Surprise that Fitzgerald has packaged up is hopefully one that they can not deny their way out of. - fc
Source to Stephanopoulos: President Bush Directly Involved In Leak ScandalPosted by
Judd October 2, 2005
Near the end of a round table discussion on ABC's This Week, George Stephanopoulos dropped this bomb:
Definitely a political problem but I wonder, George Will, do you think it's a manageable one for the White House especially if we don't know whether Fitzgerald is going to write a report or have indictments but if he is able to show as a source close to this told me this week, that President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actually involved in some of these discussions.
This would explain why Bush spent more than an hour answering questions from special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. It would also fundamentally change the dynamics of the scandal. President Bush could no longer claim he was merely a bystander who wants to "get to the bottom of it." As Stephanopoulos notes, if Bush played a direct role it could make this scandal completely unmanageable.
UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has the
video.
From The Comments:If Bush isn't actually impeached for this, but punished in some other way, I sure hope Bush can't pardon himself! As Bruce Gottlieb stated in his Slate.com article:Can the president really pardon himself? No one knows the answer. The Constitution says that the president "shall have the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment." This sentence, like many in the Constitution, can reasonably be interpreted in several ways. And since no court has ruled on this issue - because no president has ever tried to pardon himself - it remains an open question."
However, a search on About.com gives a different conclusion:"The "constitutional challenges" would come primarily from the power of U.S. presidents to grant pardons under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, which states in part, "and he [the president] shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."
In other words, under this Article, a sitting president can grant him or herself a pardon. The Founding Fathers intended this in order to prevent the Executive Branch (the president) from coming under the direct control and influence of the Judiciary Branch (the courts)."
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