“Obama will pardon them all, but as long as Trump wins, I won’t lose any sleep over it.”
Someone has to be charged with a crime and convicted first. Mayor Obama of Chicago will not be in a position to do this.
“Someone has to be charged with a crime and convicted first.”
Unfortunately, no. The president can pardon people for crimes they have not been charged or convicted of. We can thank Gerald Ford’s pardon of Nixon for that expansion of Presidential powers.
No, they can pardon for any offense already committed. No conviction or trial has to happen first. They just can’t pardon for future offenses.