Donald Trump says he would pardon his staff and protect Elon Musk if Democrats win control of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections and launch investigations.
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Trump said it plainly in an interview with New York Post columnist Miranda Devine that was published Monday. Asked whether he would pardon the people in his circle before Democrats could come after them, he answered, “I would if I needed to. Sure.” Then he doubled down: “I would not even think about it. I’d do it.”
On Musk, Trump started by downplaying talk of Democrats investigating the billionaire. “It’s talk,” he said. “But if it is talk, we’ll have to protect them.” He did not say exactly how he would protect Musk, and he did not use the word pardon when talking about him specifically.
Here is why this is coming up now. Republicans control both the House and the Senate today, but polls have shown Democrats in a strong position to take the House on Tuesday. Whichever party holds the majority runs the committees, and those committees can hold hearings, subpoena documents and force people to testify under oath. A Democratic House would have that power over the Trump administration for the next two years.
Democrats have made it clear they plan to use it. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, told Rolling Stone that “the center of all this is the Trump crime family,” and named Trump family business dealings, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, corporate corruption and the Epstein files as early targets. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who leads Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee, said his team was already looking into what he called the Trump family’s “astonishing self-dealing and conflicts of interest.”
Musk has his own reasons to worry. Some Democrats want to reopen investigations into the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, the cost cutting operation Musk led that slashed federal agencies and pushed hundreds of thousands of government workers out of their jobs. His companies, SpaceX and Tesla, also rely heavily on federal contracts. Musk answered the threat on X with “Live by the sword, die by the sword.”
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A pardon wipes out punishment for a federal crime, and a president can issue one before anyone is even charged. That kind of advance pardon is what Trump is describing. It would not stop Democrats from holding hearings or calling witnesses, but it would protect the people who receive it from federal prosecution tied to what those hearings turn up.
Trump knows the move well because he criticized it when Joe Biden did it. In January 2025, right before leaving office, Biden gave advance pardons to his family members, Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and the lawmakers who served on the January 6 committee. Trump blasted those pardons and later claimed they were void. Now he says he would pardon his staff without thinking twice.
The Musk part of the story is its own turnaround. In 2025, the two had an ugly public split, and Trump warned Musk of “serious consequences” if he funded Democrats. These days Trump is calling him a genius. On Friday, he told FOX Business that Americans have an “obligation to protect our geniuses” and called Musk a “brilliant guy” when asked whether Democrats might target him.
Trump did not name which aides or allies he would pardon. Polls close Tuesday night, and the answer to whether he will need to may come with them.
