President Joe Biden has just weeks until the clock runs out on his only term in office, but before he departs 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, some are calling for him to pardon his family and prosecutors, among others, before it’s too late.
Biden will leave the White House on Jan. 20, 2025, and he has issued sweeping pardons thus far, including for federal marijuana use convicts and gay veterans who were kicked out of the military, but he could do a lot more on his way out.
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Biden’s second son was convicted of three federal gun-related felony charges in June after he divulged that he had illegally owned a gun while a drug user.
The president’s embattled son, 54, has also been the subject of a federal criminal investigation that dates back to 2018. In September, he pleaded guilty to a slew of tax charges.
White House officials have said the commander in chief will not pardon his own son, but as the lame duck whose party will not be taking over the White House come January 2025, Joe Biden has little to lose politically. The president was spotted Friday afternoon dining with his family, including Hunter Biden, at the Brotherhood of Thieves restaurant in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
2. Trump’s perceived enemies
Lawyers who brought charges against President-elect Donald Trump over the past four years are at the top of the incoming president’s payback list, particularly if he delivers his version of “lawfare,” short for warfare through law, against those who went after him under Biden.
Biden could proactively pardon them ahead of any legal action under the next Trump administration.
At the top of the list is special counsel Jack Smith, the appointed prosecutor who, earlier this week, dropped the two federal cases against Trump in two investigations related to 2020 election interference and the mishandling of classified documents. Smith had been a thorn in Trump’s side since being appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to oversee two preexisting Justice Department criminal investigations into the former president.
Trump’s former pandemic expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, could also receive a preemptive pardon for his role atop the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases until 2022 guiding the country through the pandemic. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has said Fauci belongs in prison.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) urged Biden to act, noting the number of Democrats Trump has threatened to prosecute in the past, including Biden.
“If it’s clear by Jan. 19 that [revenge] is his intention, then I would recommend to President Biden that he provide those preemptive pardons to people because that’s really what our country is going to need next year,” Markey told Boston Public Radio.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), a staunch Trump ally in Congress, noted in a post to X that Republicans could go after a number of prosecutors and judges who have used the legal system to target Trump.
“Jack Smith, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Juan Merchan have weaponized the justice system for political gain, targeting President Trump to interfere with the election,” Luna wrote on Tuesday. “They failed. Accountability is coming!”
Jack Smith, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, and Juan Merchan have weaponized the justice system for political gain, targeting President Trump to interfere with the election. They failed. Accountability is coming!
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) November 27, 2024
3. Donald Trump
Even though Trump will get out of the DOJ special prosecutions, at least while he is the sitting president, he could face problems in the hush money case related to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Trump was convicted in May, but his November sentencing was delayed, while a fourth case in Fulton County, Georgia, has not been dismissed.
Biden could follow the precedent of former President Gerald Ford, a Republican who, in 1974, pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, for the sake of national unity following the Watergate scandal. While Biden’s presidential pardon would not affect the state-level cases, it would have a political impact.
“If he pardons Trump, he will be remembered by history for a final act of statesmanship that brought a divided America together,” Marc Thiessen and Danielle Pletka wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.
Doing so could infuriate some Democrats, and even a small number of Republicans, who feel the investigations and cases launched against Trump since 2021 were all for nothing.
4. Julian Assange
Some lawmakers have pushed Biden to pardon Julian Assange, the publisher and founder of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks. Assange faced retribution from the U.S. government for publishing classified information and agreed to a plea deal this year for violating the Espionage Act.
In 2023, then-Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he would pardon Assange if elected.
In February, Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., also called for Assange’s forgiveness and called him a “heroic whistleblower” whose actions had defended democracy.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) asked Biden in early November to forgo punishing Assange, who now resides in Australia.
Progressive Democrats are pushing Biden for sweeping action before Jan. 20, 2025, to free thousands of people incarcerated in federal prisons.
Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Jim Clyburn (D-SC) led a letter to Biden this week that urged him to free countless people in prison.
“Now is the time to use your clemency authority to rectify unjust and unnecessary criminal laws passed by Congress and draconian sentences given by judges,” the letter reads.
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“So many people who are serving extensive sentences today are there because of crimes that are victimless,” Clyburn said.
“That is astonishing, and it should be dealt with,” he added.
