U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and Honduras' President Juan Orlando Hernandez (not pictured) attend a news conference after a private meeting at the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa, Honduras June 1, 2016. REUTERS/Jorge Cabrera
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) warned Trump not to pardon Manafort, because it may trigger Congress to take action to limit the president’s pardoning powers.
Transcript via ABC’s This Week:
RADDATZ: OK, let’s move to Paul Manafort. Just last week, Trump refused to take a pardon for Manafort off the table after Rudy Giuliani acknowledged being in touch with Manafort’s lawyers. If the president pardoned Trump (sic), is that a red line for you, would that be obstructionist (ph) …
RUBIO: I think it would be a terrible mistake if he did that. I do. I believe it’d be a terrible mistake. You know, pardons should be used judiciously. They’re used for cases with extraordinary circumstances. And I just haven’t heard that the White House was thinking about doing it. I know he hasn’t ruled it out but I haven’t heard anyone say, we’re thinking about doing it.
I would advise strongly against it, it would be a terrible mistake. I would not be supportive of it, I would be critical of it. I don’t believe that any pardon should be used with relation to these particular cases. Frankly, it – not only does it not pass the smell test, I think it undermines the reason why we have presidential pardons in the first place. And I think, in fact, if something like that were to happen, it could trigger a debate about whether the pardon powers should be amended given these circumstances.
Video:
Rubio’s interview was full of his usual waffling when it comes to questions about potential criminal behavior by the president, but two points were clear. First, even Senate Republicans are willing to admit that this looks bad for Trump and that things are moving in a bad direction for them, and two, pardoning Manafort would be something that even they can’t defend.
If Trump is looking for a way to make several Senate Republicans turn against him, a Manafort pardon would be a big red line, because as Sen. Rubio referenced it is an abuse of the pardon power to help Trump out of a scandal. It makes Trump look guilty.
Rubio’s answer was a warning to Trump that all hell will break loose in Congress if he pardons Paul Manafort.
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