The White House has assembled the paperwork to pardon dozens of people, two sources with knowledge of the developments tell CNN, signaling that President Donald Trump is poised to exert his constitutional power and intervene, in some instances, where he believes the Justice Department has overstepped.
The administration has prepared the pardoning paperwork for at least 30 people, the sources tell CNN. One of those is Alice Johnson, the 63-year-old Tennessee woman who was sentenced to life in prison in 1996 on charges related to cocaine possession and money laundering.
Kim Kardashian West met with Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner in the Oval Office last week in an attempt to convince him to pardon her. Trump has not yet decided whether he will move forward with either a pardon or commutation for Johnson.
While Trump has expressed interest in recent days in doing so, his chief of staff, John Kelly, has advocated against it, according to someone familiar with the negotiations.
The Washington Post first reported that the White House had prepared the paperwork to pardon Johnson.
Last week, the President pardoned conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza and told reporters he was considering pardoning Martha Stewart and commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He raised eyebrows on Monday when he stated his belief that he had the "absolute right" to pardon himself, but said he wouldn't do so because he had "done nothing wrong."
In light of his recent pardoning spree, several of the President's outside friends and allies have begun advocating for people they believe should also be forgiven.
Now, this could be Trump moving on the request made by Kim Kardashian in her meeting with Trump last week, but if any of these pardons involve players in the Mueller probe, our current Constitutional crisis shifts into overdrive. And indeed, Trump did commute Johnson's sentence earlier today.
Trump could just be trying to get his name in the history books here. Lord knows there are a bunch of posthumous and current figures he could grant clemency to or pardon in full. But the real tell here may be the sudden urge to involve the WH Pardon Attorney's office. So far Trump's pardons have been Trump being Trump and going around the office, but these possible pardons he wants to make very official.
That makes me think it could involve Mueller investigation targets.
We'll see.
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