With Donald Trump set to be arraigned on federal charges this afternoon, we’ve heard a great deal of commentary about what this moment means in the course of American history. As I noted previously here, the argument advanced by Trump’s defenders — that it’s “illegal and unprecedented” for a former president to face federal indictments — is incredibly weak. It’s absolutely not “illegal” and the only reason we haven’t been here before is that Ford pardoned Nixon before indictments against him could come down. (Once more slowly: the entire reason for the pardon, as Ford noted explicitly, was that “Nixon has become liable to possible indictment and trial for offenses against the United States.”)
Your writings and comments always remind me of why I majored in history back in the "dark ages" of 1970-1974!
(My last undergrad class ended on the day Richard Nixon took off in that helicopter to California. 😁)
Wow, that must've been something.