“For decades there have been disagreements among constitutional scholars about whether a president can pardon himself. But Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, just gave President Trump something even better: pre-emptive exoneration from all potential criminal liability for certain financial crimes,” says Jeffrey Toobin, a contributing writer for Times Opinion and a former assistant U.S. attorney.
“By issuing a prohibition on federal investigations that might threaten Mr. Trump’s finances, the department has placed the president and his family in a new category of citizenship, where the tax rules that apply to every other American do not apply to him or his family,” Jeffrey writes. “By my reading, the document explicitly forbids the government from challenging the legality of any trusts, which can survive in perpetuity. In this way, Mr. Blanche’s memo is a gift to subsequent generations of the Trump family.”
The next dem admin can’t possibly take this seriously.
socratic-meth on
> He also guaranteed that the federal government would not be able to pursue tax claims against the president
How are dumb fucks still supporting this obvious criminal. He isn’t even doing anything that benefits them. Can it really just be that they think he hurts their political opponents more?
theguy1336 on
Some Nicaragua shit
KimmyT1436 on
The United States of America is officially the Empire of Trump Inc.. When a political leader is held to be completely and utterly above the law and is deemed to be immune from being prosecuted for their crimes, the way Donald Trump is, then that person is no longer the leader of their people but a tyrant who needs to be removed from office.
Ecstatic-Plantain234 on
I’m sure the Trump family has a plethora of state level crimes under their belts so start investigating and prosecuting.
jest4fun on
>Trump Just Pardoned Himself and His Family
No he didn’t. A pardon, by definition, is something bestowed by another unto a group or individual. A person can Not pardon themselves.
Further, accepting a pardon requires/implies an Admission of Guilt.
This shit’s Fkd up, it’s corruption, not a pardon.
Call it by its proper name.
Ascenspe on
We can always put them all in Guantánamo Bay.
AcanthisittaNo6653 on
Forever ends in 976 days, when then next president is inaugurated, or sooner if Congress grows a pair.
MiddleAgedSponger on
Taxes are laws, this violates the 14th amendment.
DeuceGnarly on
I imagine a future where, after this guy kicks it, his grave has to have 24/7 security teams to keep people from shitting on it.
It’ll cost the country as much as his shitty fucking golf trips do now…
snarf_victory on
i don’t really care if we can prosecute him for tax fraud. prosecute him for sedition, prosecute him for child rape, prosecute him for accepting bribes. as long as he dies in prison.
fr0z3nf1r3 on
His entire bloodline needs to see prison time after this administration.
Embarrassed_Key_4539 on
Nothing to see here folks
SEQLAR on
Arrest the grifter already
the_chin2 on
I don’t think this is legally binding. In fact, none of Trump’s unilateral decisions are legally binding. For example, renaming the Kennedy Center can only be done by an act of Congress. All his bullshit will be reversed when he’s out of power.
eNonsense on
No he didn’t.
His head of DOJ issued an order. It’s like an Executive Order. It lasts only as long as the person in power has power to force it on his employees.
dadashton on
I hope that this comes back to bite him, his family and the GOP.
I thought that this lot were opposed to DEI and Affirmative Action?
egoVirus on
SCOTUS did it first
bigjagoff82 on
They can say whatever they want now. When the Dems get back in . They’ll go after Trump an his family for treason. Trump s bullshit is not the law
AuthorHarrisonKing on
Man what a terribly misleading headline
xondk on
It is insane how they on a certain subreddit are going “But Biden pardoned himself and his family, so the democrats started it!” Ignoring the grotesk fact that Biden did that to avoid persecution that was not based in facts, but purely political retorik.
Where this is covering repeated active crimes.
Should a democratic president get the next presidency, and should the democrats get enough power, they have to persecute, they have to do something they have to punish the blatant misuse of offices for personal gain and hunting political rivals for no factual reason.
If the US does not, how can anyone ever thrust anything the US ever does or says again?
Alwaystired254 on
Wow! Huge win for Trump and his family! Congrats to the Trump family
CarlosTruther on
Fuck this fat orange pedo piece of shit.
blklab16 on
What an EO giveth an EO can taketh away 🤞🏼
Mediocre_Presence839 on
This can be ignored. He doesn’t have the power to do this but it makes for a great headline. We just need someone with the balls to prosecute them.
promethazinep on
And they will all get away with it. No one will be prosecuted and no one will go to jail.
notworldleader666 on
Show me what they’ll accept, thank you.
SauceoftheDay on
The main problem as I see it is that 95 percent of them are compromised
ReasonablyConfused on
“You see officer, you can’t arrest me, here’s my freshly laminated ‘Ok to murder card’”
— Stephen Colbert
Stefejan on
Sometimes I wonder if the whole US political system and constitution were written by some drunk clowns or something. What a joke.
scriptfoo on
acting-AG Blanche’s letter should be exhibit 1 as proof the entire Trump family is a criminal enterprise, all assets domestic and foreign should be considered ill-gotten gains and surrendered.
Of course it won’t happen because the GOP has figured out that gov’t coffers are there for the taking.
32 Comments
“For decades there have been disagreements among constitutional scholars about whether a president can pardon himself. But Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, just gave President Trump something even better: pre-emptive exoneration from all potential criminal liability for certain financial crimes,” says Jeffrey Toobin, a contributing writer for Times Opinion and a former assistant U.S. attorney.
“By issuing a prohibition on federal investigations that might threaten Mr. Trump’s finances, the department has placed the president and his family in a new category of citizenship, where the tax rules that apply to every other American do not apply to him or his family,” Jeffrey writes. “By my reading, the document explicitly forbids the government from challenging the legality of any trusts, which can survive in perpetuity. In this way, Mr. Blanche’s memo is a gift to subsequent generations of the Trump family.”
Read the full piece [here, for free](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/opinion/trump-doj-pardon.html?unlocked_article_code=1.j1A.gHqO.d1pzBdYgCQhy&smid=re-nytopinion), even without a Times subscription.
The next dem admin can’t possibly take this seriously.
> He also guaranteed that the federal government would not be able to pursue tax claims against the president
How are dumb fucks still supporting this obvious criminal. He isn’t even doing anything that benefits them. Can it really just be that they think he hurts their political opponents more?
Some Nicaragua shit
The United States of America is officially the Empire of Trump Inc.. When a political leader is held to be completely and utterly above the law and is deemed to be immune from being prosecuted for their crimes, the way Donald Trump is, then that person is no longer the leader of their people but a tyrant who needs to be removed from office.
I’m sure the Trump family has a plethora of state level crimes under their belts so start investigating and prosecuting.
>Trump Just Pardoned Himself and His Family
No he didn’t. A pardon, by definition, is something bestowed by another unto a group or individual. A person can Not pardon themselves.
Further, accepting a pardon requires/implies an Admission of Guilt.
This shit’s Fkd up, it’s corruption, not a pardon.
Call it by its proper name.
We can always put them all in Guantánamo Bay.
Forever ends in 976 days, when then next president is inaugurated, or sooner if Congress grows a pair.
Taxes are laws, this violates the 14th amendment.
I imagine a future where, after this guy kicks it, his grave has to have 24/7 security teams to keep people from shitting on it.
It’ll cost the country as much as his shitty fucking golf trips do now…
i don’t really care if we can prosecute him for tax fraud. prosecute him for sedition, prosecute him for child rape, prosecute him for accepting bribes. as long as he dies in prison.
His entire bloodline needs to see prison time after this administration.
Nothing to see here folks
Arrest the grifter already
I don’t think this is legally binding. In fact, none of Trump’s unilateral decisions are legally binding. For example, renaming the Kennedy Center can only be done by an act of Congress. All his bullshit will be reversed when he’s out of power.
No he didn’t.
His head of DOJ issued an order. It’s like an Executive Order. It lasts only as long as the person in power has power to force it on his employees.
I hope that this comes back to bite him, his family and the GOP.
I thought that this lot were opposed to DEI and Affirmative Action?
SCOTUS did it first
They can say whatever they want now. When the Dems get back in . They’ll go after Trump an his family for treason. Trump s bullshit is not the law
Man what a terribly misleading headline
It is insane how they on a certain subreddit are going “But Biden pardoned himself and his family, so the democrats started it!” Ignoring the grotesk fact that Biden did that to avoid persecution that was not based in facts, but purely political retorik.
Where this is covering repeated active crimes.
Should a democratic president get the next presidency, and should the democrats get enough power, they have to persecute, they have to do something they have to punish the blatant misuse of offices for personal gain and hunting political rivals for no factual reason.
If the US does not, how can anyone ever thrust anything the US ever does or says again?
Wow! Huge win for Trump and his family! Congrats to the Trump family
Fuck this fat orange pedo piece of shit.
What an EO giveth an EO can taketh away 🤞🏼
This can be ignored. He doesn’t have the power to do this but it makes for a great headline. We just need someone with the balls to prosecute them.
And they will all get away with it. No one will be prosecuted and no one will go to jail.
Show me what they’ll accept, thank you.
The main problem as I see it is that 95 percent of them are compromised
“You see officer, you can’t arrest me, here’s my freshly laminated ‘Ok to murder card’”
— Stephen Colbert
Sometimes I wonder if the whole US political system and constitution were written by some drunk clowns or something. What a joke.
acting-AG Blanche’s letter should be exhibit 1 as proof the entire Trump family is a criminal enterprise, all assets domestic and foreign should be considered ill-gotten gains and surrendered.
Of course it won’t happen because the GOP has figured out that gov’t coffers are there for the taking.