admitting guilt via pardon

In 1915, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that accepting a presidential pardon for crimes was an admission of guilt. Furthermore, because of this pardon, a person can be compelled to testify (and punished if they don't) about that crime because they no longer qualify for "pleading the 5th amendment" against self-incrimination. The self-incrimination is already public record and they can't be charged, so they have to testify when asked about it in court.

I used to think that it was wasteful bureaucracy for a state to replicate the same laws that were enforced at a national scale. It seemed like inefficient duplication. Trump taught me better, as we can expect him to pardon himself and his nepotism-family with their federal jobs. Luckily, some states prepared ahead of time for these inexcusable pardons, so they can continue to prosecute illegal behavior from this outgoing Republican administration.

Stay tuned for the details of Trump's expected self-pardons. They will include a laundry list of crimes they committed while in office. So, even if they successfully destroy records on their way out of office, prosecutors will still have Trump's convenient list of crimes to investigate.