REPORT: Possible Trump Pardon In Georgia Could Face Serious Problem But Mark Levin Offers A Unique Work Around

Donald J. Trump, the 45th president and 2024 Republican frontrunner, will be unable to easily secure a pardon if he is convicted on even one or two of the 13 charges he presently faces in Fulton County, Georgia, according to reports released Wednesday. The governor of Georgia, unlike other states, does not hold the power to grant pardons unilaterally.

Breitbart News reported that Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), who is already a vocal opponent of Trump despite the latter's pivotal support of his election, would find himself incapable of pardoning Trump even if he wanted to. In Georgia, the capability of pardoning a convict is devolved to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, a body appointed by the governor and confirmed by the State Senate. Even more troubling, they are unable to even consider applicants until they have served at least five years of a given sentence and only as long as no additional charges are pending.

NewsNation legal analyst Dan Abrams told 'Good Morning America' on Tuesday that the Georgia indictment is "effectively pardon-proof, in the sense that with a federal case, if he wins the election, he can kind of make it go away,” Abrams noted. “This case, he can’t do that.” 

Mark Levin, however, differed in opinion, posting to X App,

"President Trump can, in fact, pardon himself from the GA charges if he is elected president.
1. The Constitution's silent about whether a president can be indicted.
2. The DOJ has taken the position under both parties that you cannot indict a sitting president because it would cripple the executive branch and make his ability to defend himself effectively impossible.
3. Given the DOJ's position, and the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution, I would argue strongly that the idea that a president cannot be indicted at the federal level because it would cripple the executive branch, but can be indicted by local DAs, would have exactly the same effect as a federal indictment, except there are thousands of local and state prosecutors making the crippling of a president even more likely.
4. FURTHERMORE, if indicted and even convicted, the idea that a president cannot pardon himself from state charges is absurd, again, not only because of the Supremacy Clause, but the same considerations that apply to a federal conviction would obviously apply to a state conviction."

Furthermore, Slate observed that Trump could potentially reach out to the Republican majority state legislature and lobby it to change the present state codes pertaining to pardons, granted though this would require an amendment to the state constitution.

The Trump legal team could also of course move to have the case removed to federal court as defendant Mark Meadows has attempted, according to Breitbart. 

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