Once more, with feeling - none of this stops being a horrible crime just because there is a tiny possibility that the U.S. President might be immune from prosecution. No judge is going to go along with this.

Strictly for argument’s sake…

I wouldn’t get this far. The President orders something which a reasonable jurist, person, somebody would say is illegal. People are told to do it because they will receive an automatic pardon once it’s done.

The President gives the pardon, then pardons himself at the same time with a total, broad pardon of the kind Nixon got.

Now there are no consequences, and no ability to do discovery as there is “no crime”, and everyone walks happily into the sunset singing “Fare thee well laddies” and whistling a happy tune. The President, presumably, is still subject to impeachment, but in today’s hyper-polarized world, and with a President in full control of his party (not the Nixon case at all), that would fail as well.

Tinfoil hat off.