Constitution gives presidents wide authority

As the nation debates President Trump’s legal argument that he possesses unfettered power to not only oversee the Russia probe but perhaps even pardon himself, one must give the White House credit for at least changing the narrative to showcase the view that executive privilege may very well “trump” all.

Trump is hardly the first president to invoke such powers. Both Democrats and Republicans have done so.

In 1998, President Clinton invoked presidential privilege in the Monica Lewinsky investigation to limit the questioning of two top White House aides. President Richard Nixon invoked similar powers in the 1974 showdown over Watergate.

According to Article II of the Constitution, the president has wide authority to issue executive orders, call up the National Guard and, according to Trump’s team, oversee federal investigations. It is here that Trump’s legal team rightfully asserts the Constitution grants broad powers to the president to, “if he wished, terminate the (special counsel’s) inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon.”

In fact, Trump could have fired Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein already. He could have fired special counsel Robert Mueller and ended this witch hunt once and for all. My guess is that he has not simply due to optics — but certainly not because he doesn’t have constitutional authority to do so.

The American people are also moving in Trump’s direction. A recent Quinnipiac Poll reveals that a majority of Americans believe that Trump should not be impeached simply for firing Mueller. The same poll showed the public was divided on whether a law should be passed to bar the president from taking such action.

As to whether a presidential pardon would be executed, only one person knows the answer: President Trump. For now, the rest of us must come to grips with the fact that, thanks to a glorious document called the Constitution, the president would be well within his rights to do so.