In this episode of Bad News, Good Lawyers, New York Times contributing opinion writer and best-selling author Jeffrey Toobin discusses his latest book, The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy, with host Tom Firestone, head of our Government Investigations & White Collar Practice.

Jeffrey engages in a wide-ranging and deeply researched discussion around the evolution of the US presidential pardon – from President Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon to President Trump’s current term – and his conclusions as to why presidential pardon power should be preserved even though it has often been abused for political purposes. He also explains why he believes that:

• President Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon was a “moral and practical failure”
• President Biden’s pardon of his son and relatives “stained the record of the Biden presidency”
• President Trump has issued pardons based on “nepotism, favoritism, self-dealing and vengeance”
• President Trump “did more to liberate unjustly incarcerated people – and to reduce mass incarceration – than any other president”