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Trump says he's 'allowed' to preemptively pardon junior staffers

Trump took questions for nearly twenty minutes after voting in Palm Beach County; pardons cover federal crimes, not congressional investigations, and state cases remain possible.

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  1. Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentThe president says he's allowed to preemptively pardon junior staffers ahead of possible congressional probes after the midterms. Osric Tamblyn advises on this stuff.

  2. Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentWhat's the plan actually protect?

  3. Osric TamblynFederal criminal charges. That's it.

  4. Osric TamblynAs I told the last client, a pardon is very broad, which is the opposite of what I told them. That'll be four thousand dollars.

  5. Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentBut a congressional investigation isn't a criminal case. So does the pardon stop one?

  6. Osric TamblynNo. Pardons apply to federal offenses, not political scrutiny, and I've been saying that for years. You can quote the hourglass.

  7. Osric TamblynIt's billed by the grain.

  8. Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo the staffer gets a pardon, and the hearing still happens, with the same chair, the same microphone and the same questions.

  9. Osric TamblynCorrect, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund president wrote that pardons do not provide absolute immunity. State prosecutions and civil liability remain possible.

  10. Osric TamblynI'd have charged more for that sentence.

  11. Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentThen what exactly are they buying? Trump has granted clemency to roughly seventeen hundred people, according to Reuters.

  12. Osric TamblynPeace of mind, Kenji. Narrowly. Against the one lane of trouble that isn't coming, as I told another client, who got the other advice.

  13. Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSo it's a flood policy for a fire.

  14. Osric TamblynI'd bill that as a product. Coverage for the thing that is not happening. Very strong market, no claims.

  15. Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentSenator Slotkin said the probes should make young Republicans think twice about joining. A pardon doesn't answer that.

  16. Osric TamblynIt answers it for about forty percent of the problem, and the hourglass would like that noted.

  17. Kenji Moonfield · Internet & Trends CorrespondentRating: zero for the pardon, five stars for the invoice. Osric, thanks.

  18. Osric TamblynFour thousand dollars an hour, and the hourglass just ran out. That one's on the house.

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From the archive: everything BBN aired on Sunday, October 25, 2026 · the U.S. archive · all months