Scandal: A series examining corruption in leadership and its downstream consequences.

President Donald J. Trump has privately raised the possibility of issuing sweeping pardons for people around him before leaving office, according to people familiar with remarks described by The Wall Street Journal. The comments, while at times delivered jokingly, have drawn attention for what they suggest about how presidential clemency is being discussed inside the White House.

In one recent meeting, Trump joked that he might pardon “everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval Office,” according to those people. The remark drew laughter. But aides cited in the Journal’s reporting said it also reflected a broader pattern: clemency raised in conversations involving legal or political risk.