After Trump retweeted the call to forgive himself, Fox News asks “ Can he?

Fox News briefly explored whether President Donald Trump could forgive himself after retweeting a call on Thanksgiving Day from his Republican ally, Congressman Matt Gaetz, to consider doing so.

After pardoning former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Trump shared a call from Gaetz on Thursday encouraging him to forgive himself. “Trump should forgive Michael Flynn, he should forgive Thanksgiving Turkey, he should forgive everyone, from himself to his administrative officials to Joe Exotic if he did too,” Gaetz told Fox News before Flynn’s forgiveness.

Following reports of Trump’s retweet, Fox News host Julie Banderas asked Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason if he was allowed to forgive himself. “The president can’t forgive himself, can he?” she says.

“There have been a lot of question marks and speculation about this,” Mason replied. “I understand the answer to that is no. But I suspect this is something that we will continue to see debated in the coming weeks before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20.”

Trump could face numerous criminal prosecutions and investigations upon leaving office, which his role as Commander-in-Chief has protected him for the past four years. While it’s not clear if he has the power to do so, some have suggested he may attempt to protect himself preemptively from the prospect of facing criminal charges.

Trump had previously insisted he had the power to forgive himself in connection with former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. “J ‘have the absolute right to forgive myself, “the president told reporters in June 2018.” But I will never have to do it because I haven’t done anything wrong. “

“As many jurists have said, I have an absolute right to FORGIVE myself, but why would I do this when I haven’t done anything wrong?” the president added in a tweet. “In the meantime, the never-ending witch hunt, led by 13 angry and conflicting Democrats (and others) continues halfway through!”

Brian Kalt, professor of constitutional law at Michigan State University, said last week Newsweek, “My standard answer here is,” Well he can try. “

However, most voters indicated in a recent poll that Trump should not be able to forgive himself. An NBC LX / YouGov survey of 1,200 registered voters, conducted on Nov. 22, showed that 72% said US presidents should not be allowed to forgive themselves, compared with 13% who said they should.

Newsweek contacted the White House for comment.