President Trump is not only right in claiming he can’t be subpoened in special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, but he can also issue a blanket pardon to any targeted in the probe, a move that would essentially shut it down, according to a top legal expert.

By offering a pre-pardon, Trump could signal to potential “flippers” that they won’t have to go to jail for refusing to testify against the president or his 2016 presidential campaign.

According to George Washington University Law School Professor John F. Banzhaf, the president has several ways to thwart Mueller, including a move “to directly or indirectly assure those under investigation that they will be pardoned if they don't agree to be flipped by Mueller. Going a step further, since there seems to be clear precedent for such presidential action, would be for Trump to issue blanket all-crimes pardons to anyone under possible investigation.”

His analysis followed the leak of a Trump team memo to Mueller that questioned whether Trump could be taken to court.

Banzhaf said that the Constitution suggests only the impeachment process can take Trump down, not a prosecutor.

He suggested that Trump’s recent pardon’s of those who claim they were politically prosecuted was a signal to those being questioned by Mueller that they can stay quiet and not face jail.

“Indeed, some commentators have suggested that Trump's earlier decisions to pardon Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby and Sheriff Joe Arpaio, his more recent decision to pardon Dinesh D'Souza, and his statement that he might pardon Martha Stewart and Rod Blagojevich,were meant, at least in part, to signal to those being pressured to ‘flip’ that he is likely to remove the prosecutor's threats by being willing to issue pardons to them,” according to Banzhaf.

He added, “by these actions, Trump is reassuring those who may be under investigation by Mueller that they need not bow to threats of prosecution, and reveal sensitive information to investigators, because a similar pardon will protect all those who remain loyal to the president.”

He cited some relevant examples and even noted an analysis that Hillary Rodham Clinton, if she became president, could pardon herself in the email scandal.