Trump had announced during the election campaign that he wanted to take revenge on political opponents and, after his election victory, nominated candidates who would support this plan to head the Department of Justice and the US Federal Police FBI. According to reports, the preventive pardon should extend to the past few years and thus prevent prosecution.
The idea behind this is that even pointless investigations that do not lead to charges can cause significant damage to those affected, for example through legal fees amounting to several hundred thousand dollars. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre did not initially confirm the reports on Friday, but said Biden was “considering further pardons” or commutations of sentences.
The reports mention Republican Trump opponent Liz Cheney, special investigator Jack Smith, US virologist and former Corona advisor Anthony Fauci, and Democratic politician Adam Schiff, who was elected senator, as possible candidates for the preventive pardon.
Trump has threatened, among others, Cheney and Schiff, but also the outgoing incumbent Biden and the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris with criminal prosecution. He nominated the conspiracy ideologist Kash Patel for the office of head of the Federal Police FBI, who in turn published a “list of enemies” in a book he wrote last year. Patel had also stated several times that he wanted to take action against Trump opponents.
Biden made a splash last Sunday by pardoning his son Hunter. The president’s son was threatened with long prison sentences in two trials. The act of clemency sparked controversy over the president’s right to pardon and the independence of the judiciary.
Biden said Hunter was singled out “just because he’s my son.” Trump also always argues that all criminal proceedings against him are maneuvers by his political opponents who abuse the US justice system as a weapon in political disputes.
On the last day of his first term in office in January 2021, Trump pardoned a total of 74 people accused of various offenses and crimes, including his former chief strategist Steve Bannon.
The preemptive pardon for several people, which Biden is now apparently considering to protect them from prosecution that might never take place, would be a first.
