Join legal analyst, longtime CNN commentator, and New York Times-bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin on Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Joe Biden, Donald Trump and the profound influence of presidential pardons in American politics — and Toobin’s new book, The Pardon: Nixon, Ford and the Politics of Presidential Mercy.
President Ford’s shocking decision to pardon Nixon was widely criticized at the time, yet it has since been reevaluated as a healing gesture for a divided country even by former critics. Was Ford’s pardon a disaster — an unwise gift to an undeserving recipient, and one that created an unsettling precedent for the future? How did it set the tone for presidential mercy in the decades that followed? Toobin’s new book The Pardon, describes the behind-the-scenes political melodrama during the tumultuous period leading up to and following Nixon’s resignation — and speaks to our own perilous moment in American politics. Where are the lines between justice, mercy, and corruption? What can Ford’s pardon of Nixon teach us about the fractious relationship between Joe Biden and Donald Trump? How does presidential mercy shape our political landscape? Don’t miss this fascinating conversation with one of our most incisive legal and political thinkers.
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