2026-04-05 15:31 UTC
I don’t think it’s ever been tested*, but arguably no, the president can’t pardon war crimes.
They can only pardon “offenses against the United States”.
A war crime isn’t just an offense against the United States but also a violation of international law.
So, a future administration could try to go after these people for the international law violations.
As others have noted, the chances of that actually happening are nil.
*Trump has pardoned war crimes, but no one has yet tried going after the war criminals for the international law violations they committed.
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