Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) recently agreed with President Trump that he could indeed pardon himself if needed. It would be “unwise” to do so “under the current fact pattern.”
Gaetz stated, “I agree with Rudy Giuliani that there would be challenges. But the reason why Sarah is not eager to rule out the potential is—if there was aggressive prosecutorial misconduct, if there were circumstances that were unreasonable and the president was treated unfairly, the checks and balances in our Constitution give the president unfettered pardon power for a reason. I don’t believe he’s contemplating it. I don’t think anybody in Congress is contemplating it. We can never say never because we don’t know what unfairness the president could be subject to.”
“I don’t think it would be wise for the president to pardon himself under the current fact pattern. But remember, the fact pattern can change and if it does, I think it’s important to ensure that we don’t do anything to erode Article 2 of the Constitution.”
“Given the current fact pattern it would be unwise and politically disadvantageous for the president to pardon himself. I think the reason you haven’t heard a black and white answer absolutely ruling it out from the press secretary is that facts may change, circumstances may change. Look, we can’t even in Congress get the documents that show the basis for this investigation. What if we find out the basis was entirely rotten?”
