Who Will Joe Biden Pardon Next?

Politico reports that the White House is currently discussing the possibility of issuing preemptive pardons for anyone who might be in the crosshairs of the incoming Trump administration.

President Joe Biden’s senior aides are conducting a vigorous internal debate over whether to issue preemptive pardons to a range of current and former public officials who could be targeted with President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House, according to senior Democrats familiar with the discussions…

The West Wing deliberations have been organized by White House counsel Ed Siskel but include a range of other aides, including chief of staff Jeff Zients. The president himself, who was intensely focused on his son’s pardon, has not been brought into the broader pardon discussions yet, according to people familiar with the deliberations.

I believe that Joe Biden hasn’t been brought into this in the same way I believe Joe Biden decided to pardon Hunter last Sunday, which is to say not at all. This is just more lying politics parading as principle.

Names on the list for such pardons include Adam Schiff, LIz Cheney and Anthony Fauci among others. Sen. Ed Markey has already come out in favor of the idea as have an unknown number of other Democrats in congress.

Other lawmakers, I’m told, have been just as emphatic in private with Biden’s aides in calling for preemptive pardons.

Adam Schiff has said he wouldn’t be interested in a pardon, calling it “defensive and unnecessary.” That’s what he’s saying in public but with Adam Schiff you can’t assume anything he says is true. 

Some senior Democrats I spoke with, however, wonder how many of those facing retribution are adopting a version of the vote-no-hope-yes mantra that often surrounds difficult legislative votes. Which is to say: Some may publicly oppose preemptive pardons, for reasons of innocence or precedence, while privately hoping the president offers legal protection.

This is the same guy who went on MSNBC and claimed to have seen evidence President Trump was colluding with Russia. He also spent years promoting the bogus Steele Dossier. And don’t forget the bogus FISA memo which turned out to be wrong. So take his denials of interest in a pardon with a big grain of salt. What Adam Schiff says in public has very little connection to reality.

And on that note, the White House is said to be very concerned that even fighting allegations would be a burden for some Democrats who could face steep legal bills. Yes, the same people who cheered a $450 million verdict against Trump for a paperwork crime in which no one was harmed are worried about financial fairness.

This looks to me less like a defense of principled people and more like the bugs scattering when their lawfare rock got kicked over by Trump’s re-election. They were daydreaming about seeing Trump broke and in prison a few months ago, but now that he’s headed back to the Oval Office they’re worried the shoe could be on the other foot. 

In any case, it’ll be interesting to see how many more blanket pardons Joe Biden is willing to issue. If he stops with Hunter, he appears completely self-interested. If he offers pardons to a bunch of Democrats he looks like he’s covering up a crime spree. He and his party wind up looking bad either way.