As it turns out, it’s a broad pardon:
Trump will lose all interest in Biden and his family once they leave the WH. I doubt he will remember any of that BS by Inauguration Day.
He has much larger (personal) axes to grind against others.
Yes, this. The Republicans don’t care about “fairness”, “precedent” or “the norms”, or about the facts for that matter; just what they can get away with. “We shouldn’t do X because then they’ll do X” implies a level of reciprocity which just isn’t there, they aren’t playing by gentleman’s rules.
In Biden’s case I’d not only pardon anyone who was interested, but flee the country with my family and friends. France might be a good choice, both having good quality of life and probably being perfectly willing to give Trump and company the finger if he demands the “Biden crime family” be handed over.
I am curious what the basis is for guessing who on the list will be prioritized:
My personal guess is that whatever was the prioritization this afternoon, Joe and Hunter Biden have now both moved up on the list.
From a pure self-interest standpoint, I am wondering if Hunter should decline the pardon, as seems legally possible. The risk is of course having to serve time not just for the tax charge (gun charge sounds to me like probation), but also for whatever else the Trump Justice Department cooks up. But Trump cannot quickly become a real dictator. He is still going to be sensitive to public opinion. And it would look worse to arrest Hunter on cooked up charges after Biden’s son had done something as noble as declining this father’s generous offer.
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Why would he be? He is no longer eligible to run for President again.
The public is not Trump, therefor the public’s opinion doesn’t matter in the slightest. Trump is the only thing that matters to Trump, he’s a malignant narcissist.
Exactly this.
He will be much more inclined to go after those he sees as current or future antagonists rather than those from the past who most likely will go into retirement and are much more likely to keep quiet.
If I were Schiff, Cheney, NY AG James, Engoron, Jack Smith, Bragg or Fani Willis I would watch my back.
Clinton, Obama, Biden, Milley or Comey? Probably not.
Pelosi, Harris and Cohen are possibilities but I doubt it.
Wow. They sure are waving the red flag in front of the MAGA bull:
See:
Does anyone know if there has been new case law on this since my link above was written?
Actually I think Biden is going to be a priority target because he committed the worst possible sin: Trump lost to him, and then Biden made it impossible for Trump to “get back” at him for the affront by letting Harris run in place of him. Trump is going to want to find a way to punish Biden like he didn’t get to by winning against him in the election.
Like I’ve always said, pardons like this are a feature not a bug.
Pardoning Hunter is the reasonable thing for a father to do, but Biden shouldn’t have vowed beforehand that he wouldn’t. That, to me, is more troublesome than the pardon itself.
If the Trump DoJ wants to spend the next 4 years fighting legal battles to lock up Hunter Biden over a gun purchase application violation, I can hardly think of a less destructive use of their time.
Pardoning your son is one of the perqs of the office, and good on Joe for using it.
I can imagine the response already when Trump…well…
To be even more clear, let them speak for themselves.
Well, I guess I won’t be voting for Biden in 2028, then.
I understand your reasoning but I really think it much more likely DJT will focus on those who are currently an irritant.
Unless Joe goes on a speaking tour slamming Trump I doubt he will cross Donald’s mind once he is out of the WH. He has too many present and future enemies to persecute and exact revenge against to bother going after his senile and infirm former opponent.
Well, you had said 4 months ago you wouldn’t vote for him this year, either.
Anyway, I digress.
Agree. Add Fauci in the list too
Let’s just remember how ok y’all are with this when Trump pardons Don Jr. in 2028.
Hunter Biden was prosecuted to the extent he was for exactly one reason. He was Joe Biden’s son.
I have no doubt Trump will pardon everybody if he lives to January 2029.
ETA: For a little context, here are the counts of Presidential pardons: List of people pardoned or granted clemency by the president of the United States - Wikipedia
Trump pardoned Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, among others.
The most interesting one to me is Kodak Black, pardoned for making false statements on a gun purchase application… sounds interesting.