Could Andrew Cuomo pardon himself before leaving office?

Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy, who served as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told Fox News that there is currently no provision of New York law that would bar the governor from issuing a self-pardon.

That said, McCarthy doesn’t think Cuomo will go that route.

“I don’t believe Cuomo would pardon himself, because the groping crime he’s under investigation for in the Commisso complaint is (a) considered a misdemeanor and not very serious (i.e., it’s not considered felony sexual assault), and (b) he has vigorously denied the allegation and a pardon would be tantamount to a confession of guilt,” McCarthy said.

There have been a handful of instances in U.S. history when governors pardoned themselves. In 1911, Tennessee Gov. B.W. Hooper sentenced himself to two days in prison in order to “study conditions firsthand,” and then he pardoned himself a day later, Newsweek reported in 2017, citing newspaper accounts from the time.