# Should/ will Biden issue pardons to Trump's enemies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [November 19, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424 "2024-11-19T00:19:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/1 "2024-11-19T00:19:53Z")
There are a lot of people that may be the victims of Trump’s persecution, for no reason other than they are political enemies of Donald Trump. Trump may order them arrested. Prosecutions would almost certainly fail, but they might be held for years before release. Could they be protected by Presidential pardons? Should/ will Biden issue a lot of blanket pardons to protect them? Is it possible to issue blanket pardons without naming the persons? There are some who shouldn’t be specifically named. For a start the jurors on the various civil and criminal trials Trump faced. Trump will want to go after them. Can they be pardoned without naming them? Jack Smith, of course, and any staff that assisted him. The police and security who protected the Capitol on Jan 6th. In particular Michael Byrd, who shot Ashli Babbitt. He did nothing wrong, but Trump has called it murder. Any policeman, lawyer, or other Law Enforcement staff involved in the investigation, arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of the Jan 6th rioters. The Jan 6th Select committee, and all witnesses. Mike Pence, the traitor who could have given him the election. The staff of various social media platforms who refused to publish his messages. All election workers in the states where he lost in 2020, and also in some states where he won. Dominion staff. I don’t think he should pardon himself, or his son. It’s an open question as to whether self-pardons are legally valid. Trump will certainly try to pardon himself, and there may be a legal challenge to it. A Biden self-pardon would set a dangerous precedent. Instead, Biden should ask for political asylum in the UK for himself and his family. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/2 "2024-11-19T00:30:38Z")
Biden should find the names of all the military officers involved in the withdrawal from Afghanistan and pardon them. Just every single one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/3 "2024-11-19T00:33:38Z")
It is possible to pardon without naming specific individuals (for instance, Carter pardoned everyone in a broad category of draft dodgers). But you can’t pardon someone until after the act you’re pardoning them for. All Trump would need to do to persecute someone would be to find some act after Biden left office. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/4 "2024-11-19T00:37:41Z")
Yeah. That’s how I read this: > In an email, Crouch, author of The Presidential Pardon Power, says that “someone must have committed a federal offense, but as soon as that happens, the president can grant them clemency. He does not need to wait until the alleged offender is charged, stands trial, and so on.” [**SOURCE**](https://www.npr.org/2020/12/02/941290291/talk-of-preemptive-pardons-by-trump-raises-questions-what-can-he-do) ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/5 "2024-11-19T00:42:01Z")
I find it unlikely any of this will come to pass. As an example giving a pardon to Jack Smith or Michael Byrd would imply they have done something that needed pardoning. This would be the same with Capitol police, members of the Jan. 6 committee, etc. As someone pointed out, DJT would likely find something that didn’t fit under the pardon to prosecute them for. And of course, there is always the ability for DJT to order the IRS to audit anyone he can’t prosecute. OTOH, I do think Biden would be an idiot to not pardon Hunter. The MAGAts will harass him to the ends of the earth otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/6 "2024-11-19T00:47:18Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Instead, Biden should ask for political asylum in the UK for himself and his family. You say that as if we haven’t just stood witness for the last several years to how impossibly hard it is to hold a former president criminally liable for anything when they’re actually guilty of it. A political prosecution of Biden would not be resolved within his lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/7 "2024-11-19T00:51:48Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > OTOH, I do think Biden would be an idiot to not pardon Hunter. The MAGAts will harass him to the ends of the earth otherwise. Just the opposite. Pardoning the President’s son will damage the Democratic Party brand for many years. Lots of swing voters will buy it being the worst nepotism ever. It will neutralize any inclination they might have to resent Trump’s own nepotism. Biden does need to pardon pollster Ann Selzer, who he yesterday accused of election fraud: [Unhinged](https://www.yahoo.com/news/unhinged-trumps-brazen-investigation-demand-075007441.html) By contrast with a Hunter pardon, a Selzer pardon is obviously fair. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/8 "2024-11-19T00:52:42Z")
Yeah, you can’t pardon someone in advance of a crime. That would be a blatant license to commit crime. But afterwards, yes. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/9 "2024-11-19T00:58:29Z")
I strongly disagree. Ford pardoned Nixon. It was very unpopular at the time and was part of why Ford lost to Carter in 1976. The conventional wisdom of the time as I recall it was that Nixon and the Ford pardon had damaged the GOP for years. By 1980 all had been forgotten and Reagan waltzed into office. I suspect most Americans who aren’t hardcore MAGA are sick and tired of hearing about Hunter and will have completely forgotten it by the next election. ETA: @PhillyGuy your post reads as if Biden accused Selzer of a crime when it was Trump who did that. I doubt he will remember what he said about her by the time he’s sworn in. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/10 "2024-11-19T01:03:38Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > You say that as if we haven’t just stood witness for the last several years to how impossibly hard it is to hold a former president criminally liable for anything when they’re actually guilty of it. A political prosecution of Biden would not be resolved within his lifetime. Yes, but he may be held in prison for years pending trial. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/11 "2024-11-19T01:07:05Z")
trump will pardon himself. Biden should also do so, but do it first. Therefore there would be no way for the SC to say it’s OK for trump to do it without finding that Biden could. My suggested language "I’m pardoning myself for “any and all the stupid shit they’ll try to make you believe I did”. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/12 "2024-11-19T01:25:27Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Yes, but he may be held in prison for years pending trial. There’s zero chance in hell of that happening. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/13 "2024-11-19T01:26:14Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > ETA: @PhillyGuy your post reads as if Biden accused Selzer of a crime when it was Trump who did that. I doubt he will remember what he said about her by the time he’s sworn in. My bad. Of course it is Trump who accused Selzer of what he calls “ELECTION FRAUD.” Maybe Trump will forget [one or two names on his long enemies list](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/donald-trumps-extremely-long-list-of-second-term-revenge-targets?srsltid=AfmBOorVVjCsoV8cpe8Z27qas83vxWhxUv5A2T03lFLikDWBLYxt5ztK). But who would luck out is unknowable. That’s why Biden needs to pardon everyone on the enemies list who has not yet been convicted. The concern is with the unfairness of the justice system of the Trump administration. I cannot totally rule out Trump being an old man no more vindictive than in his first term. One reason I think he will not give up on sending enemies to a gulag: The psychological impact of being shot. If he wasn’t previously obsessed with making sure his supposed enemies suffer, being shot would do it. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/14 "2024-11-19T01:29:17Z")
Biden should pardon everyone relevant, then step down and allow Harris to pardon Biden. Well Biden should use that absolute immunity to defend the constitution against the enemy within, but I doubt he will, so yes he should. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/15 "2024-11-19T01:42:56Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Biden should pardon everyone relevant, then step down and allow Harris to pardon Biden. Again, as has been pointed out- you can not pardon is advance of a crime. They would have to admit they commited a crime- playing straight into the propaganda. No, Biden should _commute_ Hunter’s sentence, and the usual. Nothing weird or outrageous. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/16 "2024-11-19T01:51:41Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Well Biden should use that absolute immunity to defend the constitution against the enemy within The president does not have “absolute immunity”. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/17 "2024-11-19T01:52:54Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Biden should pardon everyone relevant, then step down and allow Harris to pardon Biden. I do not like the optics of Harris stepping down and pardoning Biden. For one thing, this becomes an issue if she runs for governor of California. If Gaetz, or any other Trump toady, is the AG, Joe Biden is likely to be arrested for something or other. There is no realistic way of preventing it, and I believe the manifest unfairness will help the Democrats politically — especially if Joe is acquitted. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/18 "2024-11-19T01:55:56Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > They would have to admit they commited a crime- playing straight into the propaganda. Will Wikipedia suffice on this one? [acceptance of a pardon does not constitute a legal confession of guilt](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_pardons_in_the_United_States) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/19 "2024-11-19T02:08:09Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > If Gaetz, or any other Trump toady, is the AG, Joe Biden is likely to be arrested for something or other. There is no realistic way of preventing it There’s no realistic way of causing it. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2024, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/20 "2024-11-19T02:10:00Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > acceptance of a pardon does not constitute a legal confession of guilt 10th circuit, could be overruled, but yes, my info was outdated, thanks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424.md?page=2)