Alan Zendell, August 4, 2023

The latest litmus test in the closely watched race for the 2024 Republican nomination for president is whether a candidate would pardon Donald Trump if he is convicted of federal crimes. Vivek Ramaswamy (whoever he is) pledged that he would pardon Trump on his first day as president and suggested that every candidate sign a pledge to that effect. Trump’s United Nations Ambassador, and former SC Governor Nikki Haley called Trump’s behavior reckless but said she was inclined toward pardoning him if she’s elected.

Former NJ Governor Chris Christie, who for months in 2017 embarrassed himself as Trump’s lapdog, said he would never pardon Trump, because a pardon requires the recipient to acknowledge his guilt, something Trump has never done and never will do. Former TX Congressman Will Hurd said he would not pardon Trump, and former AR Governor Asa Hutchinson said pardoning Trump should not be an issue in the campaign. The other major contenders have so far refused to answer the question directly, although FL Governor Ron DeSantis said his priority would be to act in the best interest of the country.

That’s what Gerald Ford had to decide when he became president after Richard Nixon was forced to resign over his Watergate crimes. Nixon never admitted guilt, but he was told by his own party leaders that if he were impeached, the Senate would vote to convict him. Ford agonized over the issue, ultimately deciding that after the disruptions caused by Vietnam and Watergate, the country needed healing much more than it needed to imprison Richard Nixon. His writings, at the time, make a convincing argument for pardoning his predecessor, although he took a lot of heat for doing it, and many people believe it cost him the 1976 election.

That’s why all eyes will be on Fulton County, GA District Attorney Fani Willis, this week. Willis has been conducting an investigation of Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn Georgia’s election results in 2020 for more than two years. When asked if she intends to indict the former president, she said her job was to seek justice for the people of Fulton County when anyone breaks their laws, “and that’s exactly what I intend to do.” Plans to erect security barriers around the Atlanta courthouse this week suggest that an indictment from Ms. Willis is forthcoming. It would be the last shoe to drop in the saga of the attempts to undermine the 2020 election, and possibly the most impactful one.

One reason is that a president does not have the authority to pardon anyone convicted of a state felony. That applies to Trump’s criminal convictions in New York over hush money payments to a porn star as well, but most voters don’t seem to think the New York convictions are important. Not so with Georgia. That state’s Republicans are furious over the public pressure campaign Trump waged after the election, and they’re proud that their leaders stood up to him and upheld the law. If Trump were tried and convicted of attempting to invalidate the votes of the citizens of Georgia, only GA Governor Brian Kemp could pardon him. Given the way Trump has viciously attacked Kemp, his Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, and his Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, there’s not likely to be much solace for him in Georgia.

A Georgia indictment could have an even greater impact because of rules concerning televised trials. As forty Congressional Democrats wrote in their letter to the Justice Department, requesting that Trump’s trials over classified documents and the January 6th insurrection be televised, the most important consideration, in the end, will be healing the divisions Trump created and exacerbated. The only way to gain the support of a majority of Americans for a jury verdict in any trial of Trump is for everyone to be able see how the government presents its case, and to determine for themselves if his defense rises to level of reasonable doubt.

It’s impossible to predict whether the DC Federal Court will waive its standing rules against television cameras in courtrooms, but no such prohibition exists in Georgia. There, the reverse is true. Cameras are typically permitted unless a strong case can be made that they would inhibit the court’s ability to conduct a fair trial.

An indictment by Ms. Willis and a televised trial in Georgia may be the best possible solution for the country. Far right politicians are paying lip service to letting the voters decide Trump’s fate. If they’re serious, the best way to do that is to let all Americans see the trial with their own eyes. Whatever fate awaits Trump, the course America plots in his aftermath is far more important. An open, televised trial in Georgia might be our best chance to move on from the mess Trump left us with.