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StarfishSaver

(18,486 posts)
11. No. Pence could still pardon him
Thu Dec 19, 2019, 09:19 AM
Dec 2019

Impeachment and criminal liability are two completely different and unrelated things. One doesn't have any effect on the other in any way.

A president's power to pardon applies ONLY to prevent a person from being criminally prosecuted and, if they've already been prosecuted and convicted, wiping away the consequences of that conviction.

An impeachment operates only as a political act. It doesn't have any legal consequences and a president cannot use the pardon to protect anyone from impeachment or to erase the impeachment once it occurs. If a person is impeached, there's nothing a president can do about it.

But a president can still use his or her pardon power to protect a person from being criminally prosecuted, even if they've been impeached. The fact that someone has been impeached has no effect on whether they can be pardoned.

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