How Trump Can Quash His Criminal Cases

Arlo Devlin-Brown’s commentary was included in a Law360 article exploring methods Donald Trump could employ as a second-term president to end both of the federal criminal cases against him. Arlo discusses the possibility of Trump issuing a self-pardon and the risks associated with such a move.

Aside from raising a tangle of thorny, uncharted legal issues, pardons generally project a negative connotation, Arlo noted. "Pardons are often used for people who are guilty. They can be used for people who have not yet been convicted, or who were wrongly convicted. But a pardon may send more of a message of, 'He did it, he just doesn't want to face the consequences,'" Arlo said. "Whereas, if it's dismissed by the Department of Justice, that puts the president in a better position to argue that he was wrongly charged in the first place," he added.