Welcome to Let's Find Common Ground from the Center for the Political Future at the University of Southern California's Dornside College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences.

I'm Bob Shrum, director of the center. And I'm Republican Mike Murphy, co-director of the Center. Our podcast brings together

America's leading politicians, strategists, journalists, and academics from across the

political spectrum for in-depth discussions where we respect each other and we respect the truth.

We hope you enjoy these conversations. Welcome. I'm Bob Schrum,

for those who don't know me, the director of the Center for the Political Future here at USC

Dornc. Dorncif. And we're happy today to welcome Jeffrey Tubin for a discussion centered on his new and extraordinary book,

The Pardon, the Politics of Presidential Mercy. He is both a brilliant lawyer and an insightful

commentator, chief political correspondent at CNN, and his pieces in The New Yorker are always

eloquent and often a convincing rebuke to conventional

wisdom. After he and I talk, I will leave about 15 minutes for questions from any of you in the

audience here. Let me start with this. The president's power of pardon is plenary. No conditions,

no guardrails. Why was this in the Constitution in the first place?

And why were the founders, for example, Alexander Hamilton, so strongly in favor of it?

In the best political tradition, I am going to begin by not answering your question.

And just say how happy I am to be back at USC and in L.A.

I owe, I have to say, a great deal of my career to a Trojan.

But enough about OJ.

And so I, but it is true.

I mean, that's the story that put me on the Mac.

And it also, you know,

led to two years out here in beautiful LA. And so anyway, so thank you, Bob, for inviting me and

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