(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Outgoing President Joe Biden told USA Today that he’s still considering whether to preemptively pardon the likes of Dr. Anthony Fauci and Liz Cheney before Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Biden’s remarks came in response to a question specifically about whether he’ll “issue preemptive pardons to people like Liz Cheney and Anthony Fauci.”
“Well, a little bit of it depends on who he puts in what positions,” Biden responded.
The lame-duck President said he spoke about the issue when he met with Trump at the White House last month.
“I tried to make it clear that there was no need, and it was counterintuitive for his interest to go back and try to settle scores,” Biden said in an interview USA Today published Wednesday.
According to Biden, Trump didn’t give a direct response to his advice. “He didn’t say, ‘No, I’m going to…’ You know. He didn’t reinforce it. He just basically listened,” Biden told USA Today.
Cheney faces allegations of witness tampering and suppressing evidence in the politicized Jan. 6 investigations that she oversaw in 2021 and 2022, while Fauci has been under scrutiny for years for lying about his role in funding dangerous gain-of-function research—along with lying about the effects of the COVID-19 vaccine and numerous other pandemic-related issues.
Politico reported last month that senior Democrats are pushing Biden to issue preemptive pardons.
“Biden’s aides are deeply concerned about a range of current and former officials who could find themselves facing inquiries and even indictments, a sense of alarm which has only accelerated since Trump last weekend announced the appointment of Kash Patel to lead the FBI,” Politico reported.
Talks of preemptive pardons follows Biden issuing a broad and blanket pardon to his embattled son, Hunter Biden—the first time a president ever used the power of his office to pardon their children.
USA Today also asked Joe about pardoning his son. Biden admitted he initially promised not to pardon Hunter, but said new information changed his mind.
“I meant what I said when I was asked whether I was going to pardon my son. But then I found out two factors. Number one, that he had paid all his taxes. He paid them late … He should have paid it on time. And that he was in a court throughout a plea deal that was agreed to,” Biden said.
And then the second thing I found out was that on this purchasing a gun, at the time, you have to sign a form if you’re under the influence of anything. Well, I don’t even know whether they got straight on the signing of the form. But the point was, no one’s ever been tried on that. Nobody,” he added.
“And they potentially put him in jail for X number of years for that. He had it for 10 days. Two days in his possession. No weapon, no bullets, no movement, no leave. And it got returned. And no one’s ever been tried for that.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
