Even though the Founding Fathers were anti-king, there was one king-ly power they really liked: the pardon. Thus the presidential pardon was born. Traditionally, presidents have waited patiently for their lame duck period to pardon controversial people. But president Trump isn't waiting. He's been pardoning the controversial from the beginning. In this episode of the Nerdcast, Scott is joined by presidential historian Jeffrey Engel and Politico senior reporter Darren Samuelsohn in an attempt to understand how the president's pardons hang over the Mueller investigation.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices