Overview
- Glenn Kirschner said he believes Trump is highly likely to deploy pardons to protect himself and allies after his term, urging opponents to prepare court challenges and noting that no such pardons have been issued.
- Kirschner cited Bill Barr’s congressional testimony asserting that a pardon used to buy the silence of someone who could implicate a president would be improper and could constitute a crime.
- He named Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi as potential beneficiaries, while DHS rejected perjury allegations against Noem as categorically false.
- Pushback followed from a DOJ official who labeled the concerns a tired narrative and from the White House, where a spokesperson dismissed Kirschner’s analysis.
- Separately, Trump has claimed Biden’s autopen-signed pardons lack legal effect, a position legal scholars dispute, with one noting the Constitution does not require a handwritten signature.