Biden Team Considers Blanket Pardons Before Trump’s Promised ‘Retribution’
White House officials believe President-elect Donald J. Trump’s selection of partisan warriors for top law enforcement jobs indicates that he will pursue revenge against his perceived enemies.
Former Representative Liz Cheney, who was vice chair of the committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, is among those whose names have been floated for potential pardons.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
President Biden’s staff is debating whether he should issue blanket pardons for a swath of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s perceived enemies to protect them from the “retribution” he has threatened after he takes office, according to people familiar with the discussion.
The idea would be to pre-emptively extend executive clemency to a list of current and former government officials for any possible crimes over a period of years, effectively short-circuiting the next president’s promised campaign of reprisals.
White House officials do not believe the potential recipients have actually committed crimes, but they have grown increasingly worried that Mr. Trump’s selections for top Justice Department positions indicate that he will follow through on his repeated vows to seek revenge. Even an investigation that results in no charges could drag on for months or years, costing those people hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees and crippling their career prospects.
The discussion of blanket pardons, reported earlier by Politico, remains primarily at a staff level although Mr. Biden has talked about it with senior members of the team, according to the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations. It comes after Mr. Biden pardoned his son Hunter to spare him from prison on gun and tax charges. The White House declined to comment on Thursday.
Mr. Biden in effect previewed the approach with his son’s pardon, wiping away not just the counts he was actually convicted of but any crimes he “may have committed or taken part in” since 2014. That presumably will forestall Mr. Trump’s Justice Department from going after Hunter Biden on any allegations that did not merit charges by the prosecutor who has investigated him since Mr. Trump’s first term.
Such a sweeping act of clemency covering even theoretical crimes over the course of a decade went beyond the scope of any since at least the Watergate era, when President Gerald R. Ford pardoned his disgraced predecessor, Richard M. Nixon, for any crimes even though he had not been charged. Never before has a president issued mass pardons of government officials for fear that a successor would seek to prosecute them out of partisan vindictiveness.
But the choices of Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general and Trump surrogate, to run the Justice Department and Kash Patel, a former Trump aide and far-right provocateur, to be director of the F.B.I. have put the issue front and center. Mr. Patel has vowed to “come after” Mr. Trump’s critics and even published a list of about 60 people he considered “members of the executive branch deep state” as the appendix to a 2023 book.
Democrats on Capitol Hill have been pressing Mr. Biden to do what he can to protect targets of Mr. Trump. Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, one of the president’s closest allies, urged the White House to consider pre-emptive pardons shortly after Mr. Trump’s election last month, and likewise recommended that the president pardon his son.
“I think there are a lot of people who are coming into this next administration who are telling us who they are,” Mr. Clyburn said in an interview on Thursday. “I’ve seen Kash Patel saying who he’s going after, and so why should we not believe them? And that’s what I said to the president’s staff: You all got to believe these people.”
He added: “I think it will be less than an honorable thing to do to leave this office and not do what you can to protect the integrity of their decision-making, especially when they were carrying out these responsibilities as patriots to this country, doing the things that are necessary in pursuit of a more perfect union.”
Ed Siskel, the White House counsel, is leading the discussions as part of a broader plan to issue pardons and commutations to more traditional recipients, including those convicted of nonviolent drug offenses, as is customary in a president’s final days. Among other aides participating in the discussions is Jeffrey D. Zients, the White House chief of staff.
But as White House officials weigh the matter, they are concerned that such a move would fuel the impression spread in conservative media that the recipients had actually done something wrong. At least some of those who would be obvious candidates for such pardons have said privately that they would not want one because of such an implication. Others who are concerned about retribution have lobbied for their own pardons.
Among those whose names have been floated are former Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, who was vice chair of the bipartisan committee that investigated Mr. Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol; Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the former top infectious disease expert for the government whose advice on Covid-19 made him a target of far-right attacks; Jack Smith, the outgoing special counsel who prosecuted Mr. Trump; and Senator-elect Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, who was a lead House prosecutor at Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial.
Ms. Cheney and Dr. Fauci did not respond to requests for comment. Mr. Schiff said he did not think blanket pardons would be a good idea. “I would urge the president not to do that,” he told NPR recently. “I think it would seem defensive and unnecessary.”
Others said they were torn. Olivia Troye, a former adviser to Vice President Mike Pence who has been a leading critic of the president-elect, was threatened by a lawyer for Mr. Patel just this week in a letter saying that “litigation will be filed against you” if she did not retract her criticism of him during a television interview.
“I haven’t committed a crime,” she said in an interview. But “these are very different times. Is it something that we’ve considered and are concerned about? Yes. But all I’ve done is tell the truth. I’ve not done anything wrong, and I haven’t committed any crimes, and that’s where it’s a complicated issue. These are unprecedented times. That’s what makes this so hard.”
Mr. Trump, who has argued that the many criminal and civil cases against him are part of a sweeping “witch hunt” that has “weaponized” the justice system, has done little to disguise his desire to use the law enforcement system to get back at his foes. He has threatened to prosecute Democrats, election workers, law enforcement officials, intelligence officials, reporters, former members of his own staff and Republicans who do not support him.
He has said on social media that Ms. Cheney “should be prosecuted for what she has done to our country” and that the whole Jan. 6 committee “should be prosecuted for their lies and, quite frankly, TREASON!” He said that Vice President Kamala Harris “should be impeached and prosecuted.” He has promised to “appoint a real special prosecutor to go after” Mr. Biden and his family. He has suggested that Gen. Mark A. Milley, the retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, deserved execution.
He has said that Letitia James, the attorney general of New York who won a $450 million judgment against him for business fraud, and Justice Arthur F. Engoron, who presided over the trial, “should be arrested and punished accordingly.” He shared a post saying that the police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 “should be charged and the protesters should be freed.” He has said that if Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, does anything deemed illegal, “he will spend the rest of his life in prison.”
Mr. Patel’s own list of “deep state” enemies includes not just Democrats but former Trump appointees who broke with him or were seen as obstacles, including John R. Bolton, the former national security adviser; William P. Barr, the former attorney general; Mark T. Esper, the former defense secretary; Pat A. Cipollone, the former White House counsel; Gina Haspel, the former C.I.A. director; and Christopher A. Wray, the current F.B.I. director.
“Trump and Patel’s threats of prosecution are real,” said Paul Rosenzweig, a homeland security official under President George W. Bush and a senior counsel to the independent counsel Ken Starr in his investigation of President Bill Clinton. “Biden has a moral obligation to defend all of those who risked their livelihoods for him and protect them, as best he can, from Trump’s authoritarian impulses. He should issue a pardon to anyone on Trump or Patel’s enemies list. It’s the least he can do.”
Some Democrats have echoed the argument. “The people they’re targeting include law enforcement officers, military personnel and others who have spent their lives protecting this country,” Representative Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania said in a statement. “These patriots shouldn’t have to live in fear of political retribution for doing what’s right.”
But other Democrats said it would reflect badly on the party, making it look as though it were only protecting its own rather than the most powerless in society.
“The Democrats should be for reforming and curtailing the pardon power,” Representative Ro Khanna of California said in an interview. “Black and brown individuals incarcerated because of marijuana possession have faced and continue to face far more injustice than some of the most privileged individuals who have served in the Congress or Senate.”
Цитата:
Biden administration considers pardons for people Trump may target in revenge
President’s staff look into possibility of protecting public officials named by Trump in vows to seek retribution
Joe Biden’s staff are considering the possibility of him granting mass pardons to a broad range of public officials to protect them against the possibility of retribution and revenge from Donald Trump when he assumes power, it has been confirmed.
The pardons could be extended to people who believe they have committed no crimes but have been publicly named by Trump in multiple diatribes claiming that investigations against him have been driven by a political witch-hunt.
Such an array of clemency to shield individuals from the possibility of partisan criminal investigations have no precedent in US history, despite many instances of politically contentious pardons – most notably Gerald Ford’s post-Watergate pardoning of his predecessor Richard Nixon in 1974 before he had been charged with any crime.
But the idea has gained urgency due to Trump’s repeated vows to seek revenge and rising alarm at his picks to fill strategic positions in the justice department and the FBI.
Kash Patel, the president-elect’s nominee to be FBI director, has identified 60 individuals he would pursue in a book, entitled Government Gangsters, published last year that purported to uncover members of a so-called “deep state” supposedly engaged in undermining Trump.
Among those under consideration for clemency – according to Politico, which first broke the story – are Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who managed the first impeachment of Trump; Liz Cheney, a former Republican Congress member who was vice-chair of the House of Representatives committee investigating the 6 January 2021 insurrection; and Dr Anthony Fauci, the former head of the government infectious diseases body that spearheaded the fight against Covid-19.
Trump has named Schiff as part of an “enemy within” and has said Cheney should face a military tribunal for her role in the January 6 investigation.
But many others could be eligible under the terms being considered by aides to Biden, who has not yet participated directly in the discussions, according to reports.
They include judges involved in the various trials that have ended in verdicts against Trump; the special prosecutor Jack Smith, who led the criminal investigation into January 6 and allegations of Trump illegally possessing classified documents; and numerous figures from Trump’s first administration who later turned against him.
The incoming president has also issued a thinly veiled threat against Gen Mark Milley, the former chair of the joint chiefs of staff, saying that he should be executed for “treason”. Milley has told the journalist Bob Woodward that he fears being recalled to uniform and facing court martial under a future Trump presidency.
Trump has also said police officers who defended the US Capitol from the January 6 attackers should be prosecuted, and those who invaded the building freed.
The discussion comes amid continuing fallout over the unconditional pardon granted by Biden last Sunday to his son Hunter, who was convicted of gun and tax evasion charges but faced the possibility of future investigation by Republicans who had previously accused him of illegal influence peddling.
Several Democrats have fiercely criticised that pardon, accusing the president of putting emotional considerations above the national interest and saying it sets a bad precedent.
Schiff, who will become a senator when the new Congress is sworn in in January, has publicly said he does not want a pardon.
“I would urge the president not to do that,” Schiff told Politico. “I think it would seem defensive and unnecessary.”
But allies of Biden express a different view. Jim Clyburn, a congressman from South Carolina and a longtime confidant of the president, told the New York Times: “I’ve seen Kash Patel saying who he’s going after, and so why should we not believe them?
“I think it will be less than an honorable thing to do to leave this office and not do what you can to protect the integrity of their decision-making, especially when they were carrying out these responsibilities as patriots to this country, doing the things that are necessary in pursuit of a more perfect union.”
Another Biden supporter, Brendan Boyle, a Pennsylvania House member, said: “The time for cautious restraint is over. We must act with urgency to push back against these threats and prevent Trump from abusing his power.”
Some Democrats are urging Biden to use his presidential pardon power to grant mass clemency to numerous non-violent drug offenders.
Цитата:
Trump’s F.B.I. Pick Has an Enemies List. Biden Should Pardon Everyone on It.
Haiyun Jiang /The New York Times
There are few good things to be said about Donald Trump’s plan to fire the F.B.I. director, Chris Wray, and install in his place Kash Patel, a thuggish lackey who has spent years fantasizing about taking revenge on Trump’s enemies. But there is one: Patel has helpfully provided us with a list of people President Biden should pardon before he leaves office.
Patel’s 2023 book, “Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy,” purports to show how government employees who defied Trump constitute a shadowy cabal that is “the most dangerous threat to our democracy.” The “deep state,” in Patel’s telling, is “as treacherous and evil as the villains portrayed in books and movies.” Virtually every investigation of Trump and his allies, Patel suggests, is part of a monstrous plot against “the people’s president.” The book strongly implies that Jan. 6, “the insurrection that never was,” was encouraged by “deep state” agitators and then used as a pretext to persecute patriotic Trump supporters. In a blurb on the book jacket, Trump wrote, “We will use this blueprint to help us take back the White House and remove these gangsters from all of government!”
Who are these gangsters? Patel lists 60 of them in a useful alphabetized appendix. It is not, as he acknowledges, exhaustive, since he limits himself to the executive branch, leaving out “other corrupt actors of the first order” like Senator-elect Adam Schiff, the former Republican House speaker Paul Ryan and “the entire fake news mafia press corps.” His catalog of the “deep state” includes some of Patel’s bureaucratic foes from when he served in Trump’s first administration, like Bill Barr, who as attorney general said that Trump could make Patel the deputy F.B.I. director only “over my dead body,” and Wray, the man Patel would replace.
Patel also lists both the current secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, and Trump’s secretary of defense Mark Esper. Cassidy Hutchinson, the brave young former aide to Mark Meadows who testified before the Jan. 6 committee, is on the list, as is Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump staff member who often criticizes her old boss on “The View.” Naturally, Biden, Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton are on it as well.
Except for himself, Biden should pardon them all, along with pretty much everyone else Patel has singled out by name and those who worked on the Jan. 6 committee. On Wednesday, Jonathan Martin reported in Politico that there’s a “vigorous internal debate” among Biden aides about issuing pre-emptive pardons to officials likely to be unjustly targeted by Trump. A drawback of such pardons, Martin wrote, is that they “could suggest impropriety, only fueling Trump’s criticisms.” After all, Biden may struggle to explain why he’s pardoning people who have done nothing wrong.
Patel’s appendix, however, makes the case for blanket pardons easier to convey. The breadth of it demonstrates his McCarthyite impulses better than his critics ever could.
Though Biden is not much of a communicator, he could give a speech laying out the well-founded fears that Patel may try to harass the people on his list with spurious investigations. In addition to justifying sweeping pardons, such a speech could prompt a useful nationwide discussion about what it would mean to put a man like Patel in charge of the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.
We are entering a period when the ideal of Justice Department independence will almost certainly be swept away. Political persecution — the kind Trump and his allies claim, falsely, to have been subjected to — will become routine. Biden tried to defend the basic integrity of our imperfect institutions against Trumpist aggression, and he failed. All he can do now is help the American people understand what’s coming and try to protect the ones with MAGA targets on their backs.
Those who view the federal government as a nest of criminal conspirators would, of course, interpret a raft of pardons as confirmation of their worldview. But the fear that Biden’s aggressive use of the pardon power might embolden Trump seems naïve, since all signs suggest that he will be unrestrained, no matter what Democrats do. The only reason for Trump to choose a person like Patel to lead the F.B.I. is to bend it to his will. Democrats can’t arrest that process through fealty to norms that are about to be obliterated. Yes, pardons will give Republicans a cable news talking point. The question is whether denying them that talking point is worth letting Patel ruin people’s lives on Trump’s behalf.
The pardons I’m proposing can’t cover everyone who is vulnerable to Trump’s vengeance. Elsewhere, I’ve argued that Biden should pardon all those involved in mailing abortion pills to states where abortion is banned, since the Trump administration could revive the long-dormant Comstock Act to investigate them. In doing this, Biden would be following a precedent set by Jimmy Carter when he pardoned most of those who dodged the draft during the Vietnam War. But you can’t pardon an anonymous mass of people for breaking unspecified laws; the pardon power wasn’t intended for those who’ve committed no conceivable crimes. If Trump and his cronies can’t use the justice system against those they hate most, they may use other tools, like the I.R.S., or find other scapegoats.
There’s no version of a Trump restoration that doesn’t result in both human and institutional destruction. Biden still has a duty to save who he can.
Цитата:
Коллективные настроение в «вашингтонском болоте» можно сравнить с
трагическими кадрами.
Некоторые чиновники еще надеются, но большинство понимают - администрация президента бросит их на расправу «талибов» Трампа.
По логики исторических событий это обязательно должно произойти и похоже это действительно случится.
__________________________________________________________
С предвкушением и отраслевыми ожиданиями, Dimitriy.
Частные объявления в Вашем городе, в Вашем регионе и в России
Smi24.net — ежеминутные новости с ежедневным архивом. Только у нас — все главные новости дня без политической цензуры. "123 Новости" — абсолютно все точки зрения, трезвая аналитика, цивилизованные споры и обсуждения без взаимных обвинений и оскорблений. Помните, что не у всех точка зрения совпадает с Вашей. Уважайте мнение других, даже если Вы отстаиваете свой взгляд и свою позицию. Smi24.net — облегчённая версия старейшего обозревателя новостей 123ru.net. Мы не навязываем Вам своё видение, мы даём Вам срез событий дня без цензуры и без купюр. Новости, какие они есть —онлайн с поминутным архивом по всем городам и регионам России, Украины, Белоруссии и Абхазии. Smi24.net — живые новости в живом эфире! Быстрый поиск от Smi24.net — это не только возможность первым узнать, но и преимущество сообщить срочные новости мгновенно на любом языке мира и быть услышанным тут же. В любую минуту Вы можете добавить свою новость - здесь.
