Since the start of special prosecutor Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, parallels have been drawn between Trump's situation and the one faced by disgraced ex-president Richard Nixon.
Nixon, it's commonly understood, offered his resignation, sparing the country an impeachment fight, and received a pardon from his successor, President Gerald Ford.
Since there is a Justice Department memo that states Trump could not be indicted while serving, and because his Republican successor could pardon him, many have speculated that the same thing will play out again.
But blogger and national security and intelligence journalist Marcy Wheeler doesn't believe that would work for Trump.
In a new blog post, Wheeler argues that Pence's pardon power could spare Trump prison, but not save the thing he values the most, his company.
Presidents cannot pardon companies, such as the Trump Org.
"If there’s a conspiracy to obstruct Mueller’s investigation, I’m fairly certain the Trump Organization was one of the players in it," she writes. "It utterly changes the calculation Nixon faced as the walls started crumbling. Nixon could (and had the historical wisdom to) trade a pardon to avoid an impeachment fight; he didn’t save his presidency, but he salvaged his natural person."
This would not work for Trump.
"With Trump, a pardon won’t go far enough: he may well be facing the criminal indictment and possible financial ruin of his corporate person, and that would take a far different legal arrangement (such as a settlement or Deferred Prosecution Agreement) to salvage. Now throw in Trump’s narcissism, in which his own identity is inextricably linked to that of his brand. And, even beyond any difference in temperament between Nixon and Trump, there’s no telling what he’d do if his corporate self were also cornered," she writes. "Trump might not be able to take the Nixon — resign for a pardon — deal, because that may not be enough to save his corporate personhood."
Read the complete analysis here.
