Biden still plans to pardon people threatened by Trump

WASHINGTON- President Biden says he is still considering whether to grant pardons to people who have been criticized or threatened by President-elect Donald Trump.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Biden said he and his aides were paying close attention to the rhetoric from Trump and his allies about his political opponents and those involved in his various criminal and civil misfortunes.

“It depends on the language and the expectations that Trump has put out over the last few days here about what he’s going to do,” Biden said. “The idea that he can punish people who don’t adhere to what he thinks is a policy related to his well-being is simply outrageous. »

Biden has just days left in office, and the institutionalist has used his time in office to restore some of the transition norms broken by his predecessor-turned-successor. But granting preemptive pardons — for real or imagined offenses committed by Trump’s critics that could be investigated or prosecuted by the new administration — would expand the powers of the presidency in unprecedented ways.

Trump’s frequent targets include Republican Liz Cheney, a former congresswoman from Wyoming, and Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi. They helped lead the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. Trump was particularly critical of special counsel Jack Smith, who blamed the president-elect for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Biden, who Trump said should be imprisoned, scoffed at the idea that he would pardon himself. “What would I forgive myself for? » » he asked incredulously. “No, I don’t plan on forgiving myself for anything. I didn’t do anything wrong.

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of the Republican members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, dismissed the prospect of a Biden pardon during an appearance on CNN.

“I understand the theory behind it because Donald Trump has made it clear that he will go after everyone,” he said. “But the second you get a pardon, it seems like you’re guilty of something – I’m not guilty of anything other than revealing the truth to the American people and, in doing so, embarrassing Donald Trump .”

In his remarks to reporters, Biden said social media giant Meta’s decision to end fact-checking on Facebook was “truly shameful,” calling it “contrary to American justice.”

The decision to replace third-party fact-checking with user-written “community ratings,” similar to those on Trump supporter Elon Musk’s social platform X, is the latest example of a media company struggling to adjust to the new administration. This comes on the fourth anniversary of Zuckerberg banning Trump from his programs after the insurrection.

Biden added: “You think it doesn’t matter if they let it print? Where millions of people read it, things that just aren’t true. I mean, I don’t know what it is. This is simply completely contrary to everything America stands for. We want to tell the truth.

Miller and Long write for the Associated Press.