The legal nuances of the President of the United States pardoning himself don't seem to rankle Republican Senator James Lankford as much as the fact that the administration is talking about it at all.
"It's really an odd conversation, quite frankly, out of the White House, to be talking about presidential pardons when the whole time you're saying 'I didn't do anything,'" Lankford, Oklahoma's junior senator, told Cheddar's J.D. Durkin on Tuesday.
In [a tweet](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1003616210922147841) the day before, President Trump said, "I have the absolute right to pardon myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong?"
The statement touched off a constitutional debate over presidential powers.
"It seems weird to suddenly have this switch-up message coming from the White House," Lankford said, adding: "I think the White House should be focused on getting information out."
As a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Lankford said that information should be included in a bipartisan report on exactly what happened during the 2016 presidential campaign, and put an end to the speculation over Russian involvement in the election. That includes concluding the work of the special counsel, Robert Mueller.
"At the end of the day, let's get the facts out there, because the nation has to move on," Lankford said.
For more, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/republican-senators-frustrated-by-budget-appropriations-process).
Classified documents were found at former Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home.
New estimates show more than $60 billion in fraudulent unemployment benefits were paid out during the pandemic, according to a government watchdog.
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists says the world is closer to Armageddon than it has ever been.
U.S. officials say the U.S. is poised to approve sending M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, as international reluctance to send tanks to the battlefront against the Russians appeared to begin eroding.
Classified documents were found in former Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home.
President Joe Biden is again calling for gun safety legislation in the wake of several mass shootings.
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday held a hearing looking into entertainment giant Live Nation's role in the botched pre-sales process for Taylor Swift's Eras tour.
Documents with classified markings were discovered in former Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home last week, his lawyer told the National Archives in a letter — the latest in a string of discoveries of confidential information in private residences.
A second mass shooting in California, four Oath Keepers found guilty of seditious conspiracy, and Poland pushes for more tanks for Ukraine. Here is everything you Need2Know for Tuesday, January 24, 2023.
Rachel O’Leary Carmona, the executive director of the Women's March, joined Cheddar News to discuss the current state of abortion care in the United States.
