Republican Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Will Hurd (R-TX) on Sunday warned President Donald Trump against pardoning himself.
The warnings came after Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani argued Sunday that Trump “probably” had the authority to pardon himself, but that he didn’t plan to do so.
“I think that would be a terrible move,” Hurd (pictured above) told CBS “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan, asked about the House of Representative’s potential reaction to such a move. “I think people would erupt. I think even thinking about trying to fire [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller is a bad move politically.”
“So I hope we don’t have to get to that point, and it’s hard to predict what would happen but that would be— That would create outrage on both sides of the political aisle.”
McCarthy, the House majority leader, offered a much more modest comment on a potential self-pardon Sunday.
After dodging questions on the White House’s lies to the American people — as revealed Saturday when the New York Times published a January letter from Trump’s lawyers to Mueller’s team — McCarthy maintained that the President had so far used his pardon power constitutionally.
“Do you think he has the power to pardon himself?” CNN’s Dana Bash asked McCarthy.
“I don’t believe that would be a legal question,” McCarthy responded. “The President is not saying he is going to pardon himself.”
“I don’t know why we’re walking through hypotheticals here in this process. The President has never said he would pardon himself. I don’t know where the President would go forward pardoning himself. But I don’t think a President should pardon themselves.”
H/t The Hill.
