Gerald Ford's Pardon of Nixon and the Trump Indictment

WASHINGTON - June 11, 2023 - PRLog -- An arguably parallel situation almost 50 years ago may seem relevant to issues raised by a federal indictment of former president Donald Trump, suggests public interest law professor John Banzhaf.

But there appear to be significant differences between the two situations, even though our country is again sharply divided; perhaps even more so than during Nixon's time.

After Nixon was pardoned, he left politics and essentially disappeared from public life.  Most agree that Trump would likely do the opposite, perhaps claiming the pardon as a victory and also as a vindication.

When Nixon was pardoned, there was no concern that he would again run for president.  But Trump has already begun running for president again, and a pardon is  likely to encourage this effort.

Geraldo Rivera has suggested that Trump should be pardoned, but only on the condition that he agree to discontinue his presidential campaign.

This is somewhat reminiscent of the decision Spiro Agnew made; in order to obtain a very favorable plea bargain and avoid any time behind bars, he had to agree to discontinue serving as vice president.

But a pledge by Trump not to run for president might be very difficult to enforce, and would only add to concerns that the federal prosecution was part of a scheme to prevent Trump from becoming president again, argues Banzhaf, who had sought a special prosecutor to prevent the Nixon-Agnew deal, and who later helped sue Agnew to force him to return the money he had unlawfully taken in bribes; a condition which was not part of the plea agreement.

Another important difference is that a presidential pardon was able to put an end to all of Nixon's legal woes.

But while Biden can of course pardon Trump for all federal crimes has may have committed - both crimes regarding government documents for which he has already been indicted, and crimes related to the January 6th riot - his pardons would not reach any crimes Trump may have committed in New York (for which he has already been indicted), nor any crimes for which he is expected to be indicted shortly committed in Georgia, notes Banzhaf, whose formal complaint triggered the criminal investigation of Trump in Georgia.

There is the very real possibility that at least one juror in a criminal trial will exercise his constitutional right of juror nullification, and refuse to vote "guilty" - despite overwhelming evidence and damning legal instructions from a judge - if he is a Trump supporter, or even if he just feels that it is unfair to prosecute Trump over confidential documents while Biden is also not being charged.

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