Harris refuses to rule out pardoning Trump if she wins election
Kamala Harris has refused to rule out pardoning Donald Trump if she is elected president in two weeks’ time.
The vice president sat down for a one-on-one interview with NBC News’s Hallie Jackson at her official residence in the Naval Observatory in Washington DC on Tuesday, where she addressed sexism among the electorate and declared that there will be no concessions when it comes to abortion access.
But when probed on whether she would pardon Trump – the first former president to be criminally convicted – if she wins the election, the Democratic candidate dodged the question and said she would not engage in “hypotheticals.”
“I’m not going to get into those hypotheticals. I’m focused on the next 14 days,” the vice president said, precisely two weeks from Election Day.
Jackson questioned whether pardoning Trump might offset the divisiveness across the US and help unify the country.
“But do you believe, is there any part of you that subscribes to the argument that has been made in the past that a pardon could help bring America together, could help you unify the country and move them, move on?” she asked.
“Let me tell you what’s going to help us move on,” Harris responded. “If I get elected president of the United States.”
On May 30, Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment to former porn star Stormy Daniels in order to quash historic affair rumors just weeks out from the 2016 election.
Trump’s sentencing was originally scheduled for September 18 but Justice Juan Merchan pushed back the date. It is now expected to take place on November 26 – just weeks after Election Day on November 5.
The former president is also facing criminal charges in two other cases – one federal and one state case in Georgia.
In the federal case, Trump is charged with four felonies for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election.
The case stalled after the Supreme Court ruled in July that presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for official acts while in office.
Prosecutors have since filed a superseding indictment and a trove of evidence has been unsealed, laying out their case of Trump’s “increasingly desperate efforts” to cling to power with “knowingly false claims of election fra
In Georgia, Trump is charged with trying to overturn his 2020 defeat in the state as part of a sprawling racketeering case. He was initially hit with 13 felony counts in August 2023 – which was later reduced to 10.
The case, which is being led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, was in part sparked by a leaked phone call where Trump asked a top election official in Georgia to “find 11,780 votes.”
Trump had been charged in a fourth case around his alleged mishandling of classified documents. But that case was dismissed by a Florida judge on July 15 on the grounds that the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith to oversee the case was unconstitutional.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges against him.
If Trump is re-elected, he could theoretically pardon himself or order the dismissal of the federal charges against him.
However, he would not have the power to quash the state charges.
Despite Harris’s refusal to address questions about a potential Trump pardon, the vice president has regularly used Trump’s convictions and ongoing criminal cases as an attack line during her campaign.
During the presidential debate on September 10, Harris told her rival: “This is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference, found liable for sexual assault and his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal sentencing.”