US: Trump claims 'absolute right' to pardon himself

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - President Donald Trump claimed Monday an "absolute right" to pardon himself while arguing a special counsel probe investigating his 2016 election campaign and Russia is "totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL".

"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 asked, apparently rhetorically, on Twitter.

"Despite that, we play the game because I, unlike the Democrats, have done nothing wrong!" he added in a second tweet.

Trump's claim that he has the power to pardon himself follows arguments made by Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's lawyers, who said Sunday that should Trump choose to issue a self-pardon, it "would just be unthinkable and it would lead to, probably, an immediate impeachment."

"President Trump has no need to do it. He didn't do anything wrong," Giuliani told NBC's Meet the Press Sunday morning television program.

Trump and his administration have been focused on discrediting a special counsel probe into Russia and the Trump campaign that is being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The American president claimed last week, without evidence, that the special counsel investigation would seek to interfere in this year's midterm elections.

It remains unclear what, if any, information Trump based his claim on, but it fits into his and his administration's efforts to discredit Mueller's probe, which the president has consistently derided as a "witch hunt".

- Obstruction claim

Over the weekend, the New York Times released a 20-page letter from Trump's lawyers to Mueller's team laying out a variety of legal arguments against the probe, including the claim that Trump cannot obstruct justice because he is constitutionally empowered to "terminate the inquiry".

Trump's "actions here, by virtue of his position as the chief law enforcement officer, could neither constitutionally nor legally constitute obstruction because that would amount to him obstructing himself," wrote Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow and then-Trump attorney John Dowd.

"He could, if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon if he so desired," the lawyers added.

One of the central questions around possible obstruction is Trump's decision in May 2017 to abruptly fire then-FBI Director James Comey. While the president has the power to do so, questions have lingered about his intent, and Comey has said Trump demanded a personal pledge of loyalty from him, which Comey declined to give.