Matt Gaetz, the Dead-Ender congressman from Florida, who had been so slavish in his support for Trump and so out-front, if not complicit, in his January 6 participation, now sought broad immunity for not just his actions then but—given, he argued, the deep state’s overreach—something close to all crimes ever. And not just for himself, but for a catchall of Dead-Enders whom the deep state might choose to pursue. As it happened, Gaetz, who failed to get his anticipatory pardon, was, at that moment—not yet publicly known, but of which he was well aware—under investigation for sex and drug charges, including allegations of sex with a minor. Indeed, Meadows, Cipollone, and Herschmann were trying to steer Gaetz away from the president. (After the Gaetz investigation was revealed, Trump, to the eye rolls of aides, would deny that Gaetz had ever sought a pardon.)

Bored by the process and the details, Trump nevertheless, in the last week, would trawl for candidates, with sudden spurts of determination not to leave this power unused. “Who do you think should be pardoned? Give me one person—who’s your top pick?” became a frequent conversational interruption.

One Oh, shit moment involved his sudden interest in Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein now facing years in prison over allegations of her role in the Epstein sex-abuse scandal. Trump had tried hard to downplay his own long relationship with Epstein “Has she said anything about me?” He openly wondered. “Is she going to talk? Will she roll on anybody?”

But pardon talk almost immediately segued to the question of if he should pardon himself: “They say I can. Unlimited pardon power.”

Kushner, however, dissuaded him here: giving himself a federal pardon, which was the only pardon power the president had, might just create more reason and more motivation for various states to go after him. Still, with such a lot of people out there who wanted to hurt him, he should pardon the whole family, shouldn’t he—even Barron? Kushner elided. (Other family members would note that Kushner did, though, grab a pardon for his own father.)

It impressed Trump that Rudy said he didn’t want a pardon. If he got a pardon, it would look like he needed a pardon, according to Rudy. But, Trump made it clear, he had offered Rudy one, as though to absolve himself if, in fact, they came after Rudy.

Members of the old cadre slipped in Steve Bannon. Hard-core loyalists, the hardest core of them, had become a specific Trump pardon category: Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn. But Bannon was something different. As much as he was as responsible as anyone for Trump’s becoming president, and as much as he had tried to reingratiate himself after his federal indictment for skimming from a not-for-profit fundraising scheme, his frequent and public disloyalties yet rankled. Yes, Bannon could be a prick. But … he was still in the family.