President Donald Trump said he does not think about a self-pardon because he did nothing wrong. He said he is allowed to do a self-pardon and that the pardon is the most powerful thing a president has. He said he does not want people who work for him to go through years of nonsense. He made the remarks in an exclusive interview on Newsmax’s “Finnerty” from the White House. No matching release appeared on a White House page.
“Well, I don’t think about it, ’cause I did nothing wrong,” Trump said in the interview. “I could have given myself a pardon the last time I left office. Uh, I never thought that they’d bring me through the, uh, through the mud.” He said, “I’m allowed to do a pardon, a self-pardon. I’m allowed to pardon. … They say it’s the most powerful thing a president has, the power of pardon.” The remarks do not cite a statute or a legal opinion. The statements are his.
Trump said Biden proved that the pardon is very powerful by pardoning his brother, sister, son, and half of Washington. He said he does not want to see his people go through years of nonsense, hire lawyers, and everything else, all for nothing, because people on the left are lunatics. Those characterizations are his. No White House release posted this week addresses the interview or provides an official position on self-pardons.
The Constitution grants the president the power to issue pardons for federal offenses, except in cases of impeachment. Article II, Section 2, Clause 1 states that the president “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” Whether a sitting president may pardon himself is an unresolved legal question. A 1974 Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel opinion concluded that “Under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, the President cannot pardon himself.” That opinion remains the only formal executive branch analysis. No court has ruled on the question because no president has issued a self-pardon. In Trump v. United States (2024), the Supreme Court described the pardon power as “conclusive and preclusive,” stating that “Congress cannot act on, and courts cannot examine, the President’s actions on subjects within his ‘conclusive and preclusive’ constitutional authority.” The decision does not address self-pardons. Trump’s interview treats the power as available. That framing is his.
Trump has previously asserted the power. In June 2018 he wrote on Twitter that “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?” The post is archived on public platforms. The Finnerty interview does not cite it. It addresses his current view that he does not think about a self-pardon because he did nothing wrong.
Trump said he is probably glad he did not do it the first time but that he had to go through a lot, and that he won the hard way. He said at the end of two and a half years the administration will have done things that nobody has ever done. The interview does not cite a specific legal proceeding or a document. The reflections are his.
No Justice Department release posted this week addresses self-pardons or responds to the interview. The 1974 Office of Legal Counsel opinion is the prior formal document. Trump’s statements treat the power as available and say he does not think about using it because he did nothing wrong. Those statements are his.
“I don’t think about it, ’cause I did nothing wrong,” “I’m allowed to do a self-pardon,” and “the most powerful thing a president has” are Trump’s. The interview transcript and the absence of a same-day White House or Justice Department confirmation of the legal framing are the records. The gap is between the president’s statements that he is allowed to issue a self-pardon and does not think about it, and the absence of an official legal position confirming the availability of the power on a government page.