Everyone expects–and with good reason–that Trump will abuse his pardon power between now and Inauguration Day. But will he pardon himself? What about his family and cronies?
If he were planning to head off into the sunset, I have little doubt that he would pardon himself and everyone around him who remained conspicuously loyal. Remember, however, that this is a man who still maintains that his Ukraine call was “perfect;” as far as he’s concerned, he’s never done anything wrong. In addition, acceptance of a pardon would constitute a blot on the record of the recipient, many of whom, like Trump himself, still have political aspirations of some sort.
And so, it won’t happen. The pardons won’t go to him or his inner circle; they will go to more distant figures who provided services to him at one point or another.