Trump can make himself and his family 'above the law,' says conservative commentator
CBC Radio | Posted: July 26, 2017 1:38 PM | Last Updated: July 27, 2017
What was really behind a meeting between Team Trump and a group of Russians in June 2016?
U.S. lawmakers have plenty of questions for the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort. They were at that meeting and are speaking before congressional hearings on Russian connections this week.
Our system of checks and balances is really based on the honour system, rather than hard and fast rules. - Charles Sykes, conservative political commentator
Meanwhile, a separate investigation into Russian ties, headed by former FBI director Robert Mueller, continues its work.
No one can say for sure where these investigations are all leading, but over the weekend U.S. President Donald Trump let it be known that he's preparing for certain outcomes by tweeting about his "absolute power to pardon."
Trump's inner circle has reportedly already tried to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller, but what if he's fired?
What if Trump pardons himself and members of his family?
Conservative political commentator and the author of How the Right Lost Its Mind Charles Sykes, says the U.S. under Trump may be headed for "a full-blown constitutional crisis."
"Our system of checks and balances is really based on the honour system, rather than hard and fast rules," he tells guest host Laura Lynch.
"The honour system assumes that you have a president who is honourable. We really don't have a system set up for someone like a Donald Trump," he says.
"The recognition that the president can literally make himself, his family and his cronies above the law using the pardon policy, I think, comes as something of a shock for people who believe we have these hard and fast institutional protections in place. Donald Trump is going to test the limits of that."
Sykes points to Trump's public berating of Attorney General Jeff Sessions as just another indication of the president's complete disregard for the rule of law.
"There's no way to underplay how stunning it is to have a president of the United States openly attacking his own attorney general and musing about his unlimited power of pardoning."
Listen to the conversation at the top of this post.
This segment was produced by The Current's Karin Marley, Sarah Evans, and Kristin Nelson.