Episode 3: Obstruction & Pardons

04/22/21 • 32 min

The pardon power was designed to be a tool for correcting wrongs. Any system of justice applied to a whole nation is going to have failures. A pardon is there to correct miscarriages of justice—and injustice. It was always believed that if a president abused his pardon authority, it would be so appalling to so many, at such a gut level, that the checks on the President would instantly kick in: He’s be impeached, forced to resign, voted out. Trump pushed this theory. And the results were worrisome—to say the least.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episode 2: Enemy of the People

In this episode, we consider the problem of foreign interventions in American political campaigns—and what to do about it. And we’re also going to look at how Trump blocked and tackled the free press, especially when it reported on Trump’s foreign ties.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episode 4: Prosecuting a President

In one sense maybe we should be thankful we’ve never had to grapple with these perplexing issues because a President has never run as wild as Trump did. But there’s a real precedent being set in the government’s approach to presidential criming.

It’s not just about Mueller or Trump or Biden or Merrick Garland. It’s about renovating the whole system to make plain when and how a president is held to account.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.