President Trump's attorney general nominee William Barr has a history of supporting expansive presidential power and approving pardons for government officials accused of crimes.
When President George H.W. Bush pardoned six Reagan administration officials involved in the Iran-Contra scandal in 1992, he had the blessing of a powerful ally: then-Attorney General William Barr.
Mr. Barr, now President Trump’s pick for attorney general, recommended the pardons of former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five others, saying later he thought they had been “unjustly treated” by a special counsel who charged them with offenses including lying to Congress.
(...)
... Democrats have promised to press Mr. Barr on his reasoning at the time and on how he would react to potential pardons of Trump aides who have been convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. If Mr. Barr is confirmed, it would bring together a forceful advocate of executive power with an unorthodox president who has shown a willingness to wield that power in unconventional ways.
(...)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she was concerned about Mr. Barr’s support for “broad use of pardons...given Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation.”
(...)
Under the Constitution, the power to pardon is entirely at the president’s discretion. But presidents generally have sought the guidance of the attorney general or others in the Justice Department, where a pardon attorney reviews applications and suggests candidates to the White House.
Mr. Trump, however, has bypassed that process, issuing high-profile and sometimes divisive pardons without seeking Justice Department guidance. He has put his own stamp on the clemency process, pardoning conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza for campaign-finance violations and Joe Arpaio, a former Arizona sheriff who was convicted disobeying a court order to halt the immigration raids that made him famous.
(...)
Peter Shane, a professor at the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, said an attorney general with expansive views of executive power can embolden a president to embrace certain actions because he believes they are on solid legal footing.
“What the attorney general says about these things determines a kind of organizational psychology in the executive branch, and whether that organizational psychology is one of entitlement or faithful execution of the laws,” Mr. Shane said.
Barr’s Push for Iran-Contra Pardons Likely to Emerge in Confirmation Hearing (WSJ) *Note: WSJ articles appear behind a paywall