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Here's How Past Presidents Have Used Their Pardon Power

NPR
Published June 7, 2018 at 12:40 PM EDT
Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter speaks to members of the American Legion at their national convention in Seattle on Aug. 24, 1976. Carter called for a blanket pardon for Vietnam draft resisters, and later pardoned them as president in 1977. (AP Photo)
Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter speaks to members of the American Legion at their national convention in Seattle on Aug. 24, 1976. Carter called for a blanket pardon for Vietnam draft resisters, and later pardoned them as president in 1977. (AP Photo)

President Trump says he has “the absolute right to pardon” himself if he’s indicted as part of the special counsel’s Russia investigation. Trump has already pardoned several others since he took office.

For a look back at the history of the presidential pardon, Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Joanne Freeman (@jbf1755) and Brian Balogh (@historyfellow), co-hosts of the podcast BackStory, which is produced at Virginia Humanities.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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