# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/41 "2024-12-03T01:42:21Z")
Moderating: As this thread is a duplicate of an existing P&E thread, let’s merge them. ---
**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:** [December 3, 2024, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/42 "2024-12-03T02:49:17Z")
I keep hearing people talk about how laws mean nothing to Trump. If that’s the case, why would Trump stop persecuting his enemies just because Biden pardoned them? Why couldn’t or wouldn’t Trump go after them anyway? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/43 "2024-12-03T02:52:53Z")
They _will,_ but it might make it slightly more inconvenient and give the targets a better chance to run or go into hiding. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/44 "2024-12-03T03:57:35Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I’ll take an implication of illegality over a politically motivated sham trial any day. A sham trial would require (a) the prosecution starting the sham, (b) the judge being in on the sham, and (c) the jury g(r)ifting the sham. I don’t see how they’d manage to get all of that in place. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/45 "2024-12-03T11:51:57Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > (c) the jury g(r)ifting the sham. I don’t see how they’d manage to get all of that in place. Threats to the jury or their families, or rewards to them done in secret seems to be a viable way. Remember this is not justice we are talking about, but vengeance. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/46 "2024-12-03T18:58:01Z")
He should pardon all members of the New Provo Front, Liberte de Quebec, and the Asian Dawn Movement. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/47 "2024-12-03T19:18:36Z")
> [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > Jack Smith He should absolutely offer a pardon to everyone involved in the Trump prosecutions. Quibbling about the nuance of whether that’s accepting guilt is arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Biden has a month or so to do what he can (which isn’t very much) to alleviate the clusterfeck of the next few years. He needs to do every last thing to do that. Every one in the MSM who clutches their pearls and moans about the hunter pardon or anything else Biden does between now and January can shove it up their ass TBH. You helped bring this shitstorm don’t pull that’s bothsidesism now. Just STFU ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/48 "2024-12-03T21:18:18Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > the Asian Dawn Movement. Asian Dawn? ---
**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:** [December 3, 2024, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/49 "2024-12-03T21:23:00Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Asian Dawn? Their existence is only rumored, but these rumors tend to die hard: > **[Asian Dawn Movement](https://diehard.fandom.com/wiki/Asian_Dawn_Movement)** > > The Asian Dawn Movement was a radical Sri Lankan terrorist organization. Hans Gruber made a fake demand to the United States government for the leaders of the organizations to be released (along with members of the New Provo Front in Northern Ireland... ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2024, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/50 "2024-12-03T21:33:26Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > Their existence is only rumored, but these rumors tend to die hard: I was looking for the response, “I read about them in Time magazine”. You’ll have to review your Die Hard Catechism. ---
**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:** [December 3, 2024, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/51 "2024-12-03T21:35:48Z")
Oh, I _totally_ whiffed that one. [Skulks off…] ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/52 "2024-12-04T19:29:27Z")
I love those guys. I looked them up the last time I was on the coast. We had some laughs. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/53 "2024-12-04T19:59:10Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Once again, _the Republicans won’t need that._ Agree. These people haven’t actually broken any laws and so whatever Trump comes after them with is going to be purely fabricated. Its not much harder to fabricate recent crimes than to fabricate past crimes. Plus with recent fabrications you have a longer time to put it all together before the statute of limitations runs out. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2024, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/54 "2024-12-04T20:40:12Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > > [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](#): > > > > Jack Smith > > He should absolutely offer a pardon to everyone involved in the Trump prosecutions. Quibbling about the nuance of whether that’s accepting guilt is arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Biden has a month or so to do what he can (which isn’t very much) to alleviate the clusterfeck of the next few years. He needs to do every last thing to do that. > > Every one in the MSM who clutches their pearls and moans about the hunter pardon or anything else Biden does between now and January can shove it up their ass TBH. You helped bring this shitstorm don’t pull that’s bothsidesism now. Just STFU Let the clusterfuck blossom. Make them own the clusterfuck. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/55 "2024-12-05T00:59:23Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > These people haven’t actually broken any laws and so whatever Trump comes after them with is going to be purely fabricated. I Small comfort when they’re sitting in prison, convicted of fabricated charges. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/56 "2024-12-05T01:06:36Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > A sham trial would require (a) the prosecution starting the sham, (b) the judge being in on the sham, and (c) the jury g(r)ifting the sham. I don’t see how they’d manage to get all of that in place. Depending on the motivation and skill level of the prosecutors, it may not be that clearcut. Kash Patel says he is going to go after all leakers, and I’m thinking that few on Trump’s enemies list aren’t anonymous sources from time to time. Only applies to national security officials? I don’t know. There are laws having to do with other types of confidentiality. Then there is the business of hauling them in for questioning under oath and coming up with perjury trap questions. As to the judge and jury being “in on the sham,” the trial penalty is too high, not to mention the cost. So they will mostly take the plea. (Although a few legal defense fund contributions may be in my future.) What does this say about whether Biden should issue the pardons? I’m not sure. What happened in South Korea yesterday tempts me to say to just let the autocrat overreach and go from there. We already see, with his cabinet appointments, that DJT is into overreaching. But I may change my mind shortly. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/57 "2024-12-05T01:46:40Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Small comfort when they’re sitting in prison, convicted of fabricated charges. Which they will be anyway. The only difference that a pardon makes is that they will be convicted of crimes they didn’t commit in 2025 rather than crimes they didn’t commit in 2020. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/58 "2024-12-05T02:36:32Z")
Biden should pardon deep and pardon wide. Lawyers should be working like pulp fiction novelists drafting pardons 24/7 up to the instant of 11:59 AM Jan 20, ‘25. Thereafter, if our nation preserves, they should all be given medals of commendation. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2024, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/59 "2024-12-05T03:35:51Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I keep hearing people talk about how laws mean nothing to Trump. If that’s the case, why would Trump stop persecuting his enemies just because Biden pardoned them? Why couldn’t or wouldn’t Trump go after them anyway? The way I see it is this: Trump thinks that all the vote counters were involved in a great criminal conspiracy. He is likely to order mas arrests, and holding of people while under investigation. They could be held for years. Of course, they did nothing wrong, and would eventually be freed, but only after years in jail. So, Biden issues a pardon. Trump orders his thugs to arrest them, and gets told, "We can’t. There’s nothing we can charge them with. Even if we could prove guilt, they have been pardoned. " Could Trump order them arrested on fabricated charges unrelated to the election? Maybe, but fabricating a charge for each one, individually, is a massive task. And the corruption will be more obvious. I don’#t think he has the patience, or the ability, to actually go through with it. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2024, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424/60 "2024-12-05T03:45:11Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Could Trump order them arrested on fabricated charges unrelated to the election? Only if the entire federal grand jury system and every federal judge in the country goes along with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-will-biden-issue-pardons-to-trumps-enemies/1010424.md?page=4)