There was no shortage of striking developments overnight in the Trump-Russia scandal, but perhaps the most important was the Washington Post‘s reporting that Donald Trump and his lawyers have had conversations about “the president’s authority to grant pardons.”
Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe, according to one of those people. A second person said Trump’s lawyers have been discussing the president’s pardoning powers among themselves.
Trump’s legal team declined to comment on the issue. But one adviser said the president has simply expressed a curiosity in understanding the reach of his pardoning authority….
Ah, yes, our “curious” president. Trump hasn’t decided to start handing out pardons like candy on Halloween; he’s just interested in learning more about whether he could — you know, in case the circumstances should arise.
The same article added that the president was “especially disturbed” after learning that Special Counsel Bob Mueller “would be able to access several years of his tax returns.”
It’s almost as if Trump has something to hide.
Also overnight, the New York Times reported that the president’s team has begun “scouring the professional and political backgrounds” of members of Mueller’s team, “looking for conflicts of interest they could use to discredit the investigation — or even build a case to fire Mr. Mueller or get some members of his team recused.”









