Will Obama pardon Clinton before leaving office?

The question here is do you think he will, not so much is it a good idea.

The closest analogy is Ford pardoned Nixon.

 

Pardoned for what exactly?

 

It's a catch 22. Either she's innocent and doesn't need a pardon (and is open to future prosecution) or she's guilty and accepts the pardon. Unlike the movies, though, pardons have to be explicit (rather than general) in their language to be binding. So if she were to accept one, she'd first have to detail the crimes for which she's being pardoned. Can't have it both ways.

Personally, I think she'll not take the pardon and any investigations will be held as leverage for future use. Leverage is always better than justice or revenge, for politicians.

 

pretty sure she has to be convicted before she can be pardoned.


could just as easily ask if obama will pardon trump

 

the question is will Trump pardon her. and since its the Clinton Foundation that is still under investigation I suppose Bill is on the line as well. I wouldn't take that threat seriously though unless a special prosecutor is appointed. and considering that his goal now is to unify and get things done, I don't expect that to happen. his supporters will be plenty appeased if he focuses on obamacare, the wall, and supreme court nominee. they wont need blood.

 

Has anyone investigated Trumps foundation yet?

 

Quite the opposite, the only thing a pardon cannot touch is impeachment. Other than that it can be any offense or crime at any time during legal proceedings. You can't pardon an idea though, you have to state what is being pardoned so that's why I wrote that she's have to admit guilt first.

 

I'm curious what if any impact a Wikileak has in a prosecution. How do the rules of evidence apply?

 

It's probably concrete and rebar.
But we need to be sure don't we?

I would assume that the Wikileaks information would be seen as illegally obtained.

 

but not illegally obtained by the prosecution, and once reported in the media....

 

Would be interesting to see if the courts differentiate between the two.

 

@Ragic It would most likely be admitted. The persecution would treat it as written/recorded evidence and the defense would repeatedly call in to question the chain of custody.

If the defense presented a verifiable example where an email had been adjusted, even slightly, by any 3rd party, they'd all be thrown out.

End result is a slight win for prosecution.

The federal attorneys definitely wouldn't file charges on just the emails though, that's way too risky. So in the future, if you see charges filled, they will either be posturing to get Clinton to settle, or she's cooked because they got something.

Even then, it's risky for both sides which brings me back to my original prediction, the leverage of this whole thing has more value than it's actual execution.

 

Im more curious about process than result in this thread (though im sure youre right). Do ppl's subsequent behavior as a result of a wikileak speak to its validity in a legal sense? It took a long time before anyone thought to say 'that wikileak is fake'. Instead we saw people getting fired. So I guess the question is if you react to a wikileak in a way that implies that its valid does that then give it credibility in the eyes of the law?

 

I could see Obama going either way and I don't have any feeling on how this will turn out at this point.

Pardoning her could certainly be seen as a tacit admission she was guilty. Why pardon her if she wasn't guilty of anything? On the other hand a pardon ends it for all and would close the investigations down. He could do that if there might be something that could implicate him even if he didn't care what happened to her now.

In any event we'll find out in the next 2 months or so. I expect if there is a pardon, it will be just before he leaves.

A pardon would have a bigger impact if Trump did it. I can see him pardoning her due to pragmatic reality. Even if she was indicted and realizing she is such a polarizing figure, could she get a fair trail? As the accused she would be entitled to that. I could see Trump having a change of heart to close that rotten chapter because of that. I can see him not doing it to show no one is above the law.

Those are decision presidents have to make. I just don't know how it will go.

 

Russia!!!! Forget the specifics of the emails, and just blame Putin. Evil!!!!

Wikileaks and Project Veritas scored YUGE on the bang for your buck metric.

As an egotistical pragmatist, I could see Trump wheelin & dealin with Clinton... perchance in a plane on the tarmac.

 

those are civil suits though right? isn't the pardon specific to criminal?

 

the ones i hear about are the trump uni one and the child **** one


at least one of those is likely criminal

 

Clinton and Obama are passing eachother in a narrow hallway, Clinton nearly walks into Obama and says:

"Pardon me."
Obama doesn't