"Let me remind you of something, we don’t live in a monarchy," Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch said. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images Democrats warn Trump on pardon powers: ‘You are not a king’ The president claimed the Mueller probe is unconstitutional and insisted he can pardon himself.

As President Donald Trump claims an “absolute right” to pardon himself, top Democratic lawmakers are countering with their own message: “You are not a king.”

“We don't have a king,” Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said Monday on the Senate floor. “We are a nation of laws, not men. That‘s what the Founding Fathers created America all about. They didn‘t like the monarchies. But if a president can pardon himself, it's virtually a monarchy — at least as far as the president is concerned.”


“The restoration of King George III without his splendid education, morals, or grace,” Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, tweeted, linking to Trump's post claiming unfettered power to pardon himself for any potential crimes.

The restoration of King George lll without his splendid education,morals,or grace. https://t.co/19zwN0zvb4 — Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) June 4, 2018

Cohen’s rejoinder followed a similar comparison by Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Nadler asserted in a statement that no president had ever tried to pardon himself and that the framers of the Constitution believed such a notion was “inherently corrupt.”

“These men had just fought a war against a king, and had no intention of turning their new nation over to another,” Nadler wrote.

A third Democrat on the committee also rejected Trump‘s argument for a similar reason. “Let me remind you of something: We don’t live in a monarchy and you are not a king,” tweeted Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida.

The sharp escalation of rhetoric followed Trump‘s assertion of nearly unfettered authority to direct the Justice Department to launch and drop investigations and his legal team‘s claims that he can be neither indicted nor subpoenaed while in office.

Though Democrats have little power on Capitol Hill, the comments from three members of the Judiciary Committee are notable, in part because the panel is the gatekeeper for potential impeachment proceedings — and Democrats are hopeful that a favorable political environment will send them surging into the majority in 2019. Nadler and other Democratic leaders have so far taken a cautious approach toward questions about impeachment, despite a partisan base that may demand it.

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The concerted Democratic pushback followed Trump‘s escalation of his efforts to undermine special counsel Robert Mueller‘s investigation into whether Trump associates aided Russia‘s effort to interfere in the 2016 election — and whether Trump himself obstructed the FBI's inquiry in the matter. In a tweet, Trump took a new tack, calling Mueller's appointment “unconstitutional” and insisting that the president has “the absolute right” to pardon himself.

But Trump added that he would have no need to issue such a pardon because he had “done nothing wrong.” He wrote online that he would comply with the Mueller investigation despite his concerns about its constitutionality because, he said, he is innocent of any wrongdoing.

“As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?” the president tweeted. “In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!”

As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2018

The declaration followed the publication of a letter from the president’s legal team making the same assertion.

In a subsequent post, Trump added: "The appointment of the Special Counsel is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Despite that, we play the game because I, unlike the Democrats, have done nothing wrong!”

The appointment of the Special Counsel is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL! Despite that, we play the game because I, unlike the Democrats, have done nothing wrong! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2018

Republicans were largely silent on the unfolding legal debate, with a few exceptions.

“I think that there’s a constitutional authority for the president to pardon himself," Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona said on Fox News. “I think it would be highly unlikely and, in this case, certainly unnecessary.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called the discussion an “academic argument.”

“It sounds like a debate law students would have," he said, adding: “I think it’s a distraction because so far there’s been, on a bipartisan basis, the conclusion has been that there’s no evidence of collusion.”

But two top Republicans expressed unease with the notion of the president pardoning himself.

“If I were president of the United States and I had a lawyer that said I could pardon myself, I think I would hire a new lawyer," Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee, told CNN in an interview from the Capitol.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who has at times clashed with Trump, suggested that president should refrain from pressing the pardon issue.

“If I were president, I would not be getting into” questions of whether a chief executive can obstruct justice or pardon himself, Corker told reporters at the Capitol. “It’s not something I’d be talking about.”

Similarly, the House majority leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, told CNN on Sunday — before Trump‘s tweet but after the revelation of his team’s legal memo — that presidents shouldn‘t pardon themselves.

“I don't know why we‘re walking through hypotheticals here in this process,” McCarthy said. “The president has never said he would pardon himself. I don‘t know where the president would go forward pardoning himself, but I don‘t think a president should pardon themselves.”

The Trump legal team‘s memo, which was published over the weekend by The New York Times, was sent to Mueller‘s team in January and makes sweeping claims to Trump's legal powers.

The memo, in part, argues that the notion that Trump tried to obstruct justice is invalid because the president, as head of the executive branch of government, has authority over all federal investigations. The letter also said the Constitution offers Trump the option to, “if he wished, terminate the inquiry, or even exercise his power to pardon.”

The actions by Trump and his legal team mark the latest push to discredit Mueller and his federal prosecutors. Attorneys for the president have repeatedly called on the probe, which Trump has blasted on Twitter as “the greatest Witch Hunt in American History,” to wrap up quickly.

In recent months, Trump and his lawyers have challenged the inquiry on various fronts, claiming the special counsel does not hold the authority to compel the president to testify, suggesting the investigation “will be meddling” in the midterms, and casting doubt on the origins of the Russia investigation by alleging that an FBI “spy” infiltrated the Trump campaign.

He has also claimed that the inquriy is driven by Democrats, even though Mueller is a registered Republican and was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, another member of the GOP.

Despite the efforts of Trump and his allies, the investigation has shown no outward signs of slowing down.

Other Democrats piled on Trump‘s claims on Monday with various degrees of alarm. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said President Richard Nixon resigned three days after his advisers told him he couldn't pardon himself.

“In case you want to follow the Nixon model, that would be Thursday,” he tweeted.

Schumer shared a link back to Trump‘s original tweet and added, “Mr. President — you are 0 for 2 on the Constitution this morning.”

As Democrats ripped into Trump, White House Kellyanne Conway echoed the president’s tweets, telling “Fox & Friends” on Monday morning that “this whole exercise of whether he’ll pardon himself is a ridiculous question on its face because you would pardon yourself if you’ve done something wrong.”

Rudy Giuliani, who joined the president’s legal team this spring, said Sunday he believed that Trump has the legal authority to pardon himself but that the political ramifications “would be tough.”

“Pardoning other people is one thing,” Giuliani said. “Pardoning yourself is another.”

He told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Trump‘s pardoning himself would be “unthinkable and probably lead to immediate impeachment.”

On the idea that Mueller‘s appointment was unconstitutional, such an argument gained steam last month following an op-ed from a prominent conservative judicial scholar. Writing in The Wall Street Journal, professor Steven Calabresi of Northwestern University law school, argued that the former FBI director could not conduct such a broad investigation because he was never confirmed by the Senate.

The notion was boosted during an interview on Fox News' “Hannity,” which the president is known to watch, in which the conservative commentator Mark Levin argued that Mueller was not given a narrow enough scope of inquiry by the Justice Department.

“The appointment of Mueller is utterly unconstitutional for a number of reasons,” Levin told host Sean Hannity last month. “Rod Rosenstein gave him an agenda that is so broad, not a specific individual, not a specific statute, not even a specific matter, and not only was the initial appointment incredibly broad, he keeps expanding it.”

He added: “So this special counsel's different than past special counsels. He‘s more like a roving U.S. attorney.”

The Justice Department declined to comment on the president's assertions.

