Once again, the Danish film crew was filming and, after the events of that day, recorded Stone asking again for a presidential pardon. This time, Gaetz apparently wanted one, too. When White House counsel Pat Cipollone prevented Trump from issuing those pardons, Stone told a friend that Trump was “a disgrace…. He betrayed everybody.”—Heather Cox Richardson, July 30, 2022

I have long supposed that a President could grant pardons freely. My belief in that is now shaken. If a pardon was granted to cover up crime, possibly a crime that the President is implicated in, seditious conspiracy for example, granting a pardon might be a crime, even though the pardon would stand.

Why would White House Counsel Pat Cipollone have prevented Trump from issuing pardons? That it was to protect Trump from public outcry is unlikely. More likely he realized that issuing those pardons might implicate Trump and others including himself in crime.