Sir, – US president Donald Trump is reported to be consulting lawyers on how to pardon himself, his family and some staff. He can’t pardon himself, he can pardon all the others. The only way Trump can get a pardon is to invoke the twenty-fifth amendment to the United States constitution. This gives the vice-president all the powers of the presidency if the president falls ill or is temporarily unable to fulfil his duties.
Vice-president Mike Pence, who would become president, could pardon Donald Trump and then Trump and his doctors could say that he is okay and he could become president again with no fear of prosecution for any misdeeds he committed before the date of the pardon. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN DEVITTE,
Westport, Co Mayo.