President Biden is considering issuing a blanket preemptive pardon to prominent critics of President-elect Donald Trump in both parties to protect them from possible “retaliation” or legal action by the new administration.
Several people familiar with the ongoing discussions told CBS News that the president had discussed with senior White House officials the possibility of preemptive pardons, but that no specific names had been officially recommended to him. The concept of preemptive pardons and the names of people who could benefit from them have been discussed more rigorously among administration officials expected to help Mr. Biden make final decisions, a group that includes White House chief of staff Jeffrey Zients and White House Counsel Ed. Tarin.
Among those who could be eligible for preemptive legal action are well-known names at the center of many of the most rancorous moments of the first Trump administration, many of whom remain the subject of his public ire.
The list includes Dr. Anthony Fauci, who helped coordinate the national response to COVID-19 and later served as Mr. Biden’s top science adviser; Retired General Mark A. Milleyformer chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who called Trump a “fascist” and provided information for several books and news reports detailing the former president’s behavior and activities surrounding the January 6, 2021, insurrection in United States Capitol; California Democratic Sen.-elect Adam Schiff and other Democratic and Republican lawmakers who led both impeachment proceedings against Trump or served on the House committee that examined the Jan. 6 attack — a group that includes the Former Wyoming Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who actively campaigned against Trump last fall.
Fauci, Milley and Cheney were not immediately available for comment. In an interview with NPR in late November, Schiff said he didn’t think a preemptive pardon was a good idea because “I think the courts are strong enough to resist” threats made by Trump.
“I think it’s frankly so implausible that it doesn’t deserve a lot of attention,” Schiff said. “I urge the president not to do that. I think it would seem defensive and unnecessary.”
The news that Biden was considering preemptive pardons was first reported this week by Politico. The White House would not initially commit to the subject this week, but confirmation that the idea is under consideration comes in the wake of the the president’s full pardon for his son, Hunter Bidenprotecting him from any potential criminal activity for 11 years.
This pardon, the first ever granted by a US president to one of his children, came on Sunday following Trump’s announcement of his intention to nominate one of his children. Pam Bondi becomes attorney general And Kash Patel to lead FBI. Bondi, Patel and other candidates for positions in the second Trump administration have spent years discussing plans to seek retaliation for Trump critics or take steps to stifle news outlets considered critical or hostile to the president-elect.
Rep. Brendan Boyle, Democrat of Pennsylvania, suggested for the first time publicly this week that Biden should issue preemptive pardons.
“Trump has made clear that he is more focused on settling personal scores than protecting the American people or upholding the rule of law,” he said in a statement about Trump’s plan. to appoint Patel as head of the FBI.
In addition to granting preemptive protection to Trump’s political enemies, Mr. Biden is also preparing to issue more traditional “criminal pardons” in the coming weeks to nonviolent drug offenders or others who have served time for various offensives and are often the recipients of presidential pardons, according to one of the people familiar with his plans.
The White House has responded to hundreds of requests for pardon or clemency, including from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who wrote to the president this week to ask for mercy for his son, former Illinois Democratic Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., and his daughter-in-law, former Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson. This week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, suggested that Mr. Biden should pardon “on a case-by-case basis working-class Americans in the federal prison system whose lives have been ruined by unfairly aggressive prosecutions for non-violent offenses.” “.
Ed O’Keefe
