Georgia’s insulation from the presidential and gubernatorial pardon powers could make the newest indictment of Donald Trump the most serious criminal charges the former president has faced yet, legal experts told The Messenger.

“There is no pain-free exit from this state litigation for Trump,” said Barbara Ann Perry, professor and director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.

Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign could, if successful, hand him a literal get-out-of-jail-free card on any convictions stemming from federal charges in Florida and Washington, D.C. in the form of Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which vests the president with pardon powers for federal crimes.

But such a pardon is not a possibility in Georgia, where a Fulton County grand jury on Monday handed up charges against Trump as part of a 41-count, 19-defendant indictment stemming from District Attorney Fani Willis’ 2 ½-year probe into alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Defendants including Trump have been asked to voluntarily surrender by Aug. 25.

The Georgia indictment marks “the first set of charges for which there’s no chance Trump can pardon himself or others,” Christy Setzer, a political analyst, told The Messenger.

Instead, criminal commutations in Georgia are controlled by the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles, a five-member panel whose members are appointed to seven-year terms by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. Two of the board’s current members were appointed by Kemp. The other three were appointed or re-appointed by former Gov. Nathan Deal, also a Republican.

Georgia’s pardon rules are also unlikely to change. They are enshrined in the state’s Constitution, which requires approval by two-thirds majority of both houses of the Georgia General Assembly followed by ratification. 

Republicans currently hold a 33-23 majority in Georgia’s state Senate, and a 102-78 majority in the state House of Representatives.     

Even if he did have the power to intervene, or pressure the state pardon board, Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp appears unlikely to do so. Kemp has repeatedly clashed with Trump over his baseless claims of fraud over the 2020 election in the state. 

After Trump posted to his Truth Social platform on Tuesday that he planned to present an “Irrefutable REPORT” next week alleging there was fraud in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, Kemp replied: “The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen.”

“For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward – under oath – and prove anything in a court of law,” Kemp continued. “Our elections in Georgia are secure, accessible, and fair and will continue to be as long as I am governor. The future of our country is at stake in 2024 and that must be our focus.”