Biden weighs preemptive pardons for potential targets of Trump retaliation

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden and his top aides are discussing the idea of ​​issuing preemptive pardons to people President Donald Trump has despised in recent years as he has hinted at plans for retaliation, two sources familiar with the discussions confirmed.

Although the discussions have included certain names, including newly elected Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Dr. Anthony Fauci and former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the process has not reached consensus on an actual list, sources said.

Some Democrats and “Never Trump” Republicans have supported the idea of ​​preemptive pardons to protect people under a new Trump presidency.

Political first reported that Biden was considering taking the action.

Past presidents have issued such pardons, including George HW Bush for former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger over his role in the Iran-Contra scandal; Gerald Ford for former President Richard Nixon in the wake of the Watergate scandal; Jimmy Carter for the Vietnam War draft dodgers; and Abraham Lincoln for former Confederate soldiers.

During the 2024 campaign, Trump made threatening comments about people he believed had slighted or wronged him.

Speaking at an event with Tucker Carlson just days before the election, Trump said of Cheney: “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay. Let’s see , how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face — you know, they’re all hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building.”

Cheney, a vocal Trump critic, served on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that exposed Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Schiff also served on that committee and was the lead prosecutor in the first impeachment proceedings.

Toward the end of the 2024 campaign, Trump said many Democrats, including Schiff, who will move from the House to the Senate in January, were “the enemy from within.” Even during Trump’s first term, he made threatening statements about Schiff, saying he should be arrested for “treason” and saying he would pay a “price” for his role in the first impeachment against Trump.

As for Fauci, he and Trump did not get along during the president-elect’s first term in the White House, when Fauci sought to help lead the federal government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. During that time, Trump publicly attacked Fauci, calling him a “disaster.”

In the Biden White House, work is being done on the president’s use of clemency authority in criminal cases. Lawyers, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, DN.Y., and civil rights lawyer Ben Crump are urging the president to act in a number of cases they say are worthy of clemency. Announcements about these decisions are expected in the coming weeks.