I don’t know if I believe Carter over Bell here. But the larger point is that the President fully possesses this power. The reason Carter might have felt sheepish about admitting what he did to Mitchell is that it undermines the post-Watergate myth that DOJ is independent of the President. (BOP is part of DOJ.) In other words, when push came to shove, Carter may not even have believed his own DOJ independence myth when the rubber met the road. https://x.com/JamesRosenTV/status/1873744960475766947?t=_oaU45-z2r3WF4b6Khc5RQ&s=19