Al Capone would have found the pardoning power equally handy

The crime boss in the White House promised the head of CPB a pardon if he would break the law for him

I am completely not surprised.

First he kids around about it.

And then the White House denies it.

And then he does it right out in public.

We are at the White House denial phase.

President Donald Trump told Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan he would grant McAleenan a pardon if he were sent to jail for having border agents block asylum seekers from entering the US in defiance of US law, senior administration officials tell CNN.

Trump reportedly made the comment during a visit to the border at Calexico, California, a week ago. 

It was not clear if the comment was a joke.

Two officials briefed on the exchange say the President told McAleenan, since named the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, that he "would pardon him if he ever went to jail for denying US entry to migrants," as one of the officials paraphrased.

The White House referred CNN to the Department of Homeland Security. 

A DHS spokesman told CNN, "At no time has the President indicated, asked, directed or pressured the Acting Secretary to do anything illegal. Nor would the Acting Secretary take actions that are not in accordance with our responsibility to enforce the law."

He likes to work himself up to his crimes.

Retaliating against Democrats, Trump says he's considering sending migrants to sanctuary cities

He was warned by staff repeatedly that this would be illegal.

The president's statement came after a former Department of Homeland Security official said the plan, first reported by The Washington Post on Thursday night, was ultimately scrapped when it was determined to be "so illegal." 

A White House official who confirmed the broad outlines of the proposal Friday morning pushed back on the idea that it was meant as retaliation toward political rivals, however, calling that "absolutely ridiculous."

The official insisted the White House had never pressured Immigration and Customs Enforcement to put the plan in motion, but simply floated it to officials at the agency.

He has figured out he is actually above the law, and so are any henchmen who commit crimes in carrying out his criminal orders.

The Justice Department stuck by its ludicrous policy that a sitting president cannot be indicted and Barr is not the man to change that.

He now has a Supreme Court that is not going to deny him the power to pardon his henchmen and even himself.

And the Republicans in the senate are as loyal to him as the Bolivarian Revolutionaries are to Maduro.

As will be Fox News, Breitbart, and the entire right wing noise machine.

Checks and balances don't stop a president when the Supremes and the senate are in his pocket.