Democratic Congressman Rep. Adam Schiff, of California, said during an interview on CNN Wednesday that President Trump is “acting like an organized crime figure” over a possible pardon for his former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Daily Boulder reported yesterday that the White House is in discussion to pardon Flynn as part of a series of pardons he plans to issue in his remaining days in office.
“It just, frankly, reflects so ill on our democracy, on the United States,” Schiff said during an interview on CNN’s “New Day.” “Imagine what people around the world think when we have a president that’s acting like an organized crime figure.”
“But this is who Donald Trump is. It’s who he was on the way into the presidency. It will be exactly who he is on his last days of the presidency,” he said.
Flynn was one of Trump’s allies who got entangled in the Russia investigation. He pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia’s former ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.
A pardon of Flynn would potentially end the former adviser’s legal woes before an attorney general appointed by President-elect Joe Biden could be installed next year.
When asked about the president’s pardon power, Schiff said that Trump could pardon Flynn “assuming that it’s not on the basis of some illicit quid pro quo.” However, he said he did not think the president could pardon himself.
“There are other limitations on the pardon power, but it is very broad and subject to abuse as he has demonstrated,” he told CNN.
Watch:
President Trump is “acting like an organized crime figure,” @RepAdamSchiff says about a possible pardon for Michael Flynn.
“But this is who Donald Trump is. It's who he was on the way into the presidency. It will be exactly who he is on his last days of the presidency.” pic.twitter.com/ULtD5pBHFG
— New Day (@NewDay) November 25, 2020
