Unlike with the federal prosecutions, Trump has no power to shut down the case if he’s reelected.
Federal prosecutors know that if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election, he can disrupt their criminal cases against him — either by ordering the Justice Department to dismiss the charges or by attempting to pardon himself. But in Georgia, where Trump faces racketeering charges for his bid to subvert the 2020 election, he will have no power to shut down the case.
Presidents can issue pardons only for federal crimes, and the Georgia indictment involves exclusively state crimes. Trump couldn’t even seek help from the state’s governor, because in Georgia, unlike many other states, the governor cannot issue pardons.
Instead, pardons are issued by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles, a five-member panel authorized by the state constitution. The board considers applications beginning at least five years after an individual has completed his or her sentence. That timeline differs from the federal system, where presidents can issue pardons before a person has even been prosecuted.
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Perhaps most challenging for Trump is that one of the primary qualities the board looks for in pardon applicants is someone who has taken responsibility for their actions and has shown remorse for them, Donohue-Koehler added. The former president has remained strident and continues to advance many of the same false claims about the 2020 election that fueled some of the charges against him. He has repeatedly dismissed the idea that his actions were anything other than justified.
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In Georgia, Trump won’t get saved by a pardon https://t.co/q1Hcdsy0cr
— POLITICO (@politico) August 16, 2023
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