We didn’t realize President Donald Trump was merely limbering up last week when he pardoned conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza and mused about commuting the prison sentence of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The big stretch came Monday when Trump declared via Twitter that he has “the absolute right” to pardon himself.

Trump continued: “But why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?”

So is the president threatening to put himself beyond the reach of law, or isn’t he? We’re in the habit of glancing at Trump’s tweets and then getting on with our day, knowing that his sound and fury often signify nothing. But Trump’s pardon tweet matters because he was asserting that the Constitution exempts him from consequences of his acts. That thinking does play well in monarchies and dictatorships.

At issue is an incendiary aspect of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election: Did Trump obstruct justice by firing FBI Director James Comey or by asking Comey to go lightly on former national security adviser Michael Flynn? Mueller, who took up the Russia investigation after Comey’s ouster, seems poised to make some big decisions, including whether to ask Trump to sit for an interview, or seek a subpoena compelling the president to testify. That prospect has riled up Trump. And it has worried his legal team. They likely think little good will come if an aggressive special counsel interrogates a president with a habit of shooting off his mouth.

Trump’s strategy has been to cooperate with Mueller while attempting to delegitimize the investigation by calling it a witch hunt. Simultaneously, Trump’s lawyers have been trying to corral Mueller by arguing that the Constitution gives the president sweeping powers to make decisions and broad protection from legal scrutiny.

In a January letter to Mueller obtained by The New York Times, Trump’s lawyers claimed that the president did not, and cannot, commit obstruction of justice. Also, the president can’t be forced to testify and can decide to end the Mueller investigation. The letter, according to a Times report last weekend, also states that Trump can “even exercise his power to pardon,” a vague assertion the president turned into his forceful I-can-pardon-myself Monday tweet.

This is a bizarre instance of presidential brinkmanship: Trump vs. Mueller, Trump vs. the rule of law, Trump vs. any and all comers. Clearly the president thinks there’s no limit to his dominion, which is how he got himself into this distracting legal mess. If he’d kept quiet and allowed Comey, as FBI director, to investigate Russian interference then Trump’s presidency would look a lot different.

The Trump team’s argument for extraordinary presidential authority is spelled out in the January letter by attorneys John Dowd and Jay Sekulow, and another last June by Trump lawyer Marc Kasowitz. They assert Trump is insulated from charges of wrongdoing in the discharging of his duties because as president he has constitutional authority over the executive branch and all criminal investigations. Claims of obstruction of justice are absurd, the letter from Dowd and Sekulow postulates, because “that would amount to him obstructing himself.”

That’s some fancy footwork, never addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court but unpersuasive to us. Even without a high court precedent delineating the limits of the president’s control over the legal system, we are certain that killing a special counsel’s investigation, or issuing a self-pardon, would exceed his authority. And by the way, how exactly would Trump imagine a self-pardon working? He’d be accused of obstructing justice on a Monday, pardon himself Monday night and be back on the job Tuesday?

We doubt that any president would go that far, if only because the Constitution gives Congress an overwhelming check on the abuse of power. It’s called impeachment and trial. If Trump were to put himself above the law, he’d be ending his presidency.

Editorial by the Chicago Tribune

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