Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

Show NLP summaries collection recirc on article pages

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

RFK Jr’s ‘history lesson’ on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine flunks the fact test

No, posting is not better political activism than talking to voters

The legal — and political — stakes of Stormy Daniels on the stand

Commerce Department revokes more export licenses to China’s Huawei

Middle East conflict live updates: Israel says it has reopened key aid crossing; U.S. paused bomb shipments to Israel

U.S. signals optimism for Gaza cease-fire as Israel moves into Rafah 

Substack courts TikTokers with new ‘creators’ program

Indiana primary updates: Mike Braun wins Republican governor race

How Trump’s allies amplify his Truth Social messages to the wider world

Indy Star bars columnist from Caitlin Clark’s games after awkward exchange

The Washington Post wins three Pulitzer Prizes

In photos: The scene after a deadly tornado strikes Oklahoma

Fashion previews, protests, parties: The scene surrounding the Met Gala

Carolyn Hax: Family pushes siblings to ‘make amends’ after their mother’s death

Miss Manners: I’m offended by a golfer’s skirt choice

Ask Amy: I want to be closer with my brother. He never reaches out to me.

The Trump-Biden battle over the 2017 tax cut

That time football legend, rig-driving eligible bachelor Biden was arrested

France tries to shed its rude reputation ahead of the Olympics

Don’t be a jerk at the airport: A guide for headphones

The new cure-all for vacation excess: the IV drip 

Postal worker finds WWII-era letters, drives 5 hours to deliver them

Strangers help Sesame Street puppeteer after heirloom necklace was stolen

Teen grabs wheel when driver passes out and school bus veers into traffic

The FTC’s noncompete clause rule goes too far

The next global crisis could come from the sun. We should prepare now.

Russia is using toxic chemical weapons, wrecking a ban it helped create

Nats go over .500 the hard way by beating the O’s and Corbin Burnes

A look at what has changed since the Nationals were last above .500

Baseball can crush rookies. Why hasn’t it crushed Trey Lipscomb?

US-VOTE-POLITICS-ECONOMY-BIDEN

See more coverage in your recommendations

Get the weekly Campaign Moment newsletter

Set alerts for major election developments

Election 2024

The Campaign Moment newsletter

Politics alerts

President Trump on Monday asserted an “absolute right” to pardon himself of any federal crimes but said he has no reason to do so because he has not engaged in any wrongdoing.

“As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?” Trump wrote on Twitter.

In a subsequent tweet Monday, Trump also claimed that the appointment of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election had been “totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL!”

“Despite that, we play the game because I, unlike the Democrats, have done nothing wrong!” Trump said.

Trump’s assessment of his pardon powers echoed that of his attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who offered an expansive view of the president’s executive powers during interviews Sunday, arguing that Trump probably has the ability to pardon himself.

“He probably does,” Giuliani said Sunday, when asked on ABC News’s “This Week” whether Trump has the ability to pardon himself. “He has no intention of pardoning himself, but he probably — not to say he can’t.”

[Giuliani calls it ‘unthinkable’ that Trump would pardon himself]

Giuliani’s comments came less than 24 hours after the revelation Saturday that the president’s legal team argued in a confidential January memo to Mueller that Trump could not have obstructed an FBI probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election because, as president, he has total control over all federal investigations.

In his tweets Monday, Trump again lashed out at Mueller’s probe, calling it a “never ending Witch Hunt,” asserting that it was led by “13 Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others)” and predicting that it would continue through the midterm elections.

Mueller is a Republican, as is Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, a Trump appointee overseeing Mueller’s investigation. 

[The president as the persecuted: Donald Trump’s strategy of self-victimization]

Legal scholars differ on the issue of whether the president can pardon himself — and even some Republicans question the reading of the law by Trump’s legal team.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) suggested Monday that Trump should hire a new lawyer if he is being told he can pardon himself.

“If I were president of the United States, and I had a lawyer that told me I could pardon myself, I think I would hire a new lawyer,” Grassley told CNN.

The question of whether a president can self-pardon has long been a “parlor game” among scholars, said Jonathan Turley, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University Law School.

There is no precedent for it and, thus, no case law. Turley said he believes a president can pardon himself — but added that it would not protect a president from impeachment.

“A president cannot pardon out of an impeachment,” Turley said. Congress, he said, “can use his pardon as an abuse of his office.”

Ethan Leib, a professor at Fordham Law School, said he believes a president can’t self-pardon because that violates the oath of office — in which the president swears to “faithfully execute” his duties — and the stipulation in Article II of the Constitution that the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”

“The Constitution is clearly prohibiting the president from engaging in self-dealing,” Leib said.

[Presidents and the constitutional power to pardon]

Trump did not say in his tweets why he believes the Mueller probe is unconstitutional.

Late last month, Steven Calabresi, one of the founders of the conservative Federalist Society, argued in a guest editorial in the Wall Street Journal that Mueller cannot oversee such a broad investigation because he was not confirmed by the Senate.

Calabresi asserted that under the appointments clause of the Constitution, an official overseeing the probe would be a “principal officer” and would have to be someone who was appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

Among those pushing back on that view Monday were Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.

“The appointment of Special Counsel Mueller is clearly constitutional,” Nadler said in a statement in which he referenced a top former Trump campaign aide who has been indicted by Mueller. “We know this, in part because Paul Manafort — the president’s old campaign manager — tried the same desperate argument in federal court last month. The court rejected that motion, and Manafort will rightly face trial for his alleged crimes in due course.”

With Trump going on Twitter again to undermine the Mueller probe, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) sought to bolster its legitimacy.

In a tweet directed at Trump on Monday, Schumer wrote: “Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation has either indicted or secured guilty pleas from 19 people and three companies. Five of these people, including three former Trump aides, have already pleaded guilty.”

Other Democrats, including Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), also took aim at Trump in response to his assertions on Twitter.

“All the tweeting in the world will not change the fact that the President is not above the law,” Shaheen said in a tweet of her own.

Trump’s tweet about his pardon power comes as he has issued a string of pardons of others, most recently conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza. 

As he pardoned D’Souza last week for a campaign finance law violation, Trump also said he was weighing commuting the prison sentence of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich (D) as well as granting a pardon to Martha Stewart, the television personality and lifestyle mogul, arguing that they and D’Souza had been unfairly treated by the justice system.

Many have seen Trump’s actions as a signal to personal attorney Michael Cohen, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and others ensnared in Trump-related investigations that they, too, could be spared punishment in the future.

Trump also used Twitter on Monday to mark his 500th day in office. In an earlier tweet, he said he had “accomplished a lot — many believe more than any President in his first 500 days.” The president ticked off accomplishments, including “Best Economy & Jobs EVER.”

 Joel Achenbach, Devlin Barrett and Ashley Parker contributed to this report.

Stanford University, BA in Political Science

John Wagner is The Post's national political breaking news editor. He previously was a reporter on the breaking news team. Prior to that, John covered the Trump White House. During the 2016 presidential election, he focused on the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. John also chronicled Maryland government for more than a decade.

John Wagner

The Washington Post

staff

Biden administration

The Fix

The 202s

Polling

Democracy in America

Politics

iptc-media/politics/government/constitution_(law)

iptc-media/politics/government

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance/economic_sector/financial_and_business_service/legal_service

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance/economic_sector/financial_and_business_service

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/law_enforcement

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice

iptc-media/politics/government/impeachment

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary/court/trial_(court)/defendant

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/crime

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary/court

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary/prosecution

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/law

iptc-media/economy_business_and_finance

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/justice_and_rights

iptc-media/politics

iptc-media/politics/election

iptc-media/politics/political_process

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary

iptc-media/crime_law_and_justice/judiciary/court/trial_(court)

client-blocklists/Client List: Morgan Stanley KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Becton Dickinson KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CLIENT LIST: Nomura KWs 2021 - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Boeing KWs 2021- INCLUDE ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Exxon Mobil  - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Microsoft KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/GEICO KWs - INCLUDES ANY_4.26.21

client-blocklists/Client List: T. Rowe Price KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/T. Rowe Price KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/HBO KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ExxonMobil 03312021 KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Ford/Lincoln KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Bank of America KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/WaPo: Combined Disaster Keyword List - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/American History Content

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs 2 - EXCLUDES ALL - 12.23.20

advertising/B2_Congressional Elections_legacyaux_r48

client-blocklists/Client List: Eli Lily KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Culture and Tradition_legacyaux_kfx

client-blocklists/Client List: Purina KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

advertising/Citrix Mindfulness

advertising/B2_Government & Policy_legacyaux_mza

advertising/B2_Health and Beauty_legacyaux_3fv

advertising/Racing and Nascar Enthusiasts

client-blocklists/BP KWs - INCLUDES ANY

advertising/B2_Politically Active - DO NOT REMOVE_legacyaux_lmp

advertising/B2_Politics_legacyaux_8f3

advertising/B2_Russia & Putin_legacyaux_F55

advertising/B2_Society_legacyaux_0cz

client-blocklists/Client List: KPMG KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Navy Federal Credit Union NFCU KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Novo Nordisk KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Siemens KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Cisco KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Capital Concerts KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T ALT KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Mercedes KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/FX Excludes All Disney

client-blocklists/Client List: Citibank KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Inpixon KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Boeing KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: Aetna KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Google KWs - INCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: AT&T KWs 2021 - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Philip Morris KWs - INCLUDES ANY 

client-blocklists/Dupixent neg kws - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Capital One KWs 2 - INCLUDES ANY - 1.4.21

client-blocklists/Bank of America Merrill Lynch KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/CME KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Google PG KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Chase KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

client-blocklists/Client List: Office Depot KWs - INCLUDES ANY

client-blocklists/Client List: ETrade KWs - EXCLUDES ALL

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/politics&limit=20

Post Politics from The Washington Post is the source for political news headlines, in-depth politics coverage and political opinion, plus breaking news on the biden administration and White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, elections and more.

prism://prism.query/site,/politics/the-fix&limit=6