1) After this morning's tweet, in the coming days, here's a possibility: look for President Trump to get frustrated and just pardon his son Trump Jr. and everyone involved in the Tower Meeting with Russians...
2) Of course, there would be a firestorm of criticism and talks of corruption in the grant of pardons (legal pardon + unlawful purpose), but the pardons would be valid--even if done by tweet...
3) Then, Trump could create an unrelated news story (like, tweeting Larry Bird was better than Magic Johnson) to see if that distracts from the mass pardons...
4) (mass pardons are permissible; Vietnam War draft dodgers and Confederate soldiers were pardoned en masse)...
5) Then, as long as it's several days after the mass pardons, he could pardon himself for any and all activity prior to that date (including the mass pardons from a few days prior), BUT...
6) Whether that self-pardon is legitimate would be up to the Courts--the Supreme Court, eventually, but POTUS could argue it's a nonjusticiable political question...
7) Assuming for the moment that a self-pardon is possible (which is a huge assumption, but just for now), then POTUS would only have to worry about impeachment (which he cannot pardon)...
8) Also important to note that pardon does not itself carry an automatic taint of guilt (but strangely, and a different issue, nor can pardon always remove the taint of guilt). Tokyo Rose was pardoned in circumstances that suggested innocence.
9) Back to impeachment, the impeachment threat would be for everything up until now, plus any corruption in granting the pardons. IF Trump could articulate a convincing non-corrupt reason for pardons (no collusion!), with a Republican majority Senate...
10) Trump could potentially be safe from impeachment? This option would be incredibly risky, but if POTUS feels his back is against the wall, he could potentially try this...but it's fraught with peril!
