President Biden is considering broad pardons for prominent critics of President-elect Donald Trump in both parties to protect them from potential “retaliation” or legal prosecution by the incoming administration.
The president has debated the possibility of issuing preemptive pardons with senior White House aides, but no specific names have been formally recommended to him, multiple people familiar with the ongoing discussions told CBS News. The concept of preemptive pardons, and the names of people who might benefit from them, has been discussed more vigorously among administration officials who are expected to help Mr. Biden make the final decision, a group that includes the White House chief of staff. of Staff Jeffrey Zients and White House Counsel Aide. Siskel.
Those who may be eligible for preemptive legal relief include 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 nation's COVID-19 response and later served as Mr. Biden's top science adviser; Retired General Mark A. MilleyThe former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has 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 at the U.S. Capitol; Democratic Senator-elect Adam Schiff of California, and other Democratic and Republican lawmakers who led the two impeachment cases against Trump or sit on the House committee reviewing the January 6 attack — a group that includes former Wyoming Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney. who are actively campaigned against Trump This past fall.
Fauci, Milley and Cheney were not immediately available for comment. In an interview with NPR in late NovemberSchiff said he does not think preemptive pardons are a good idea, because “I think the courts are strong enough to withstand the threats made by Trump”.
“I think it's obviously so unbelievable that it doesn't deserve any further consideration,” Schiff said. “I would urge the President not to do that. I think it would seem defensive and unnecessary.”
News that Biden was considering preemptive pardon It was first reported this week by PoliticoThe White House initially wouldn't discuss the topic this week, but confirmed the idea is under consideration President grants sweeping pardon to his son Hunter BidenProtecting him from all possible criminal activities for 11 years.
The pardon, the first issued by any US president for one of his children, came in the wake of Trump's announced plan to nominate him on Sunday. Pam Bondy to serve as Attorney General And Kash Patel will lead the FBIBondy, Patel and others lined up for positions in the Trump administration spent years discussing plans to retaliate for Trump's critics or take steps to suppress news outlets deemed critical or hostile to the president-elect. Are.
Representative Brandon Boyle, Democrat of Pennsylvania, suggested publicly for the first time this week that Biden should issue a preemptive pardon.
In a statement about Trump's plan to nominate Patel to lead the FBI, he said, “Trump has made it clear that he is more concerned with personal matters than protecting the American people or upholding the rule of law.” “It's more about settling accounts.”
In addition to issuing retroactive protections to Trump's political enemies, Mr. Biden is also preparing in the coming weeks to grant more traditional “criminal justice pardons” for non-violent drug offenders or others who have served time for various crimes and are often its beneficiaries. A presidential pardon, according to one of the people familiar with his plans.
The White House is sending hundreds of requests for such pardons or clemency, including to the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Who wrote a letter to the President this week and apologized To his son, former Illinois Democratic Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., and his daughter-in-law, former Chicago Alderwoman Sandy Jackson. This week House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, suggested that Mr. Biden should pardon “working-class Americans in the federal prison system on a case-by-case basis whose lives have been upended by unjustified aggressive prosecution for nonviolent crimes.” Has been ruined by.” ,
