U. S. President Donald Trump could issue a flurry of pardons during his final days in power.

Trump has granted clemency to supporters before, most notably earlier this year when he commuted the criminal sentence of Roger Stone, who was sentenced to prison after being convicted of lying under oath to lawmakers.

In 2018, Trump even said he had the "absolute right" to pardon himself - a claim many constitutional law scholars dispute.

Here is an overview of Trump's pardon power, which is sweeping but not absolute.

ARE THERE LIMITS ON TRUMP'S PARDON POWER?

The pardon power, which comes from the U. S. Constitution, is one of the broadest available to a president. The nation's founders saw the pardon power as a way to show mercy and serve the public good.

While pardons are typically given to people who have been prosecuted, pardons can cover conduct that has not yet resulted in legal proceedings.

A pardon is not reviewable by other branches of government and the president does not have to give a reason for issuing one.

A pardon wipes out a criminal conviction. A different form of executive clemency, known as a commutation, leaves the conviction intact but wipes out the punishment.

But the pardon power is not absolute. Crucially, a pardon only applies to federal crimes. That means pardons would not, for example, protect Trump associates from the criminal investigation being conducted by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, a state prosecutor.

Vance’s probe, which began more than two years ago, stemmed from hush money payments that the president’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen paid before the 2016 election to two women - an adult-film star and a former Playboy model - who said they had sexual encounters with Trump. Trump has denied the encounters and has said the probe is politically motivated.







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