Below is my column in The Hill on the calls for “blanket pardons” for hundreds and even thousands of people. Despite Trump’s ill-considered statement about how the J6 Committee members should go to jail for what they did on NBC this weekend, Trump has also insisted that he wants “success” to be his revenge. Many in the media are also omitting that Trump immediately said “no” to whether he would direct either the Attorney General or the FBI director to indict or investigate. While I have been a vocal critic of the J6 Committee, I know of no crime that could be credibly pursued against the members, as I have written. More importantly, presidents do not just send people to jail. There will be no round-up of opponents and democracy will survive. We have an entire constitutional system designed to prevent arbitrary prosecutions or authoritarian measures. These White Knight pardons are meant to preserve a collapsing narrative of how Trump wants to round up his enemies and end democracy. It has resulted in a strange and uniquely Washington phenomenon: pardon envy.
Here is the column:
Liberal pundits and press in Washington are facing a growing nightmare in Washington. No, it is not the victory of President-elect Donald Trump or the Democrats’ loss of both houses of Congress and the popular vote in this election. It is the possibility that democracy may not collapse as predicted, and Trump might not even round up his opponents en masse.
For months, liberals have been telling voters that this will likely be their last election and that democracy is about to end in the U.S. ABC host Whoopi Goldberg declared on “The View” that Trump will immediately become a dictator who will “put you people away … take all the journalists … take all the gay folks … move you all around and disappear you.”
Many predicted they would be on the top of the enemies list and the first to be rounded up.
Now, the moment is nearly here, and pundits are dreading that the public may notice there is no line of democracy champions being frog-marched down Pennsylvania Avenue. Faced with such a scenario and a further loss of credibility, many are coming up with the next best thing — pretending they stopped the roundup by having Biden pardon everyone. The spin will be that Trump would have gone after rivals but was prevented from doing so by Biden.
The idea is to portray yourself as a white knight, riding down to protect the vulnerable and timid from the coming hoard.
Even if democracy inconveniently survives, Biden can preserve the narrative with sweeping pardons.
The White House is reportedly exploring giving preemptive pardons to figures ranging from Dr. Anthony Fauci, Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).
Cheney previously declared that this “may well be the last real vote you ever get to cast.” A pardon would preserve her persona as a modern-day Joan of Arc who avoided being burnt at the stake only by the grace of a Biden pardon.
Others seem to be panicking that there may be a list of pardoned people, but they will be left off. Call it “Pardon Envy.” The only thing worse than not being on a Trump enemies list is not being on a Biden pardon list.
Before the election, MSNBC host Al Sharpton and regular Donny Deutsch warned viewers that they would likely be added to an “enemies list.” MSNBC host Rachel Maddow ominously told her viewers that, “Yes, I’m worried about me — but only as much as I’m worried about all of us.”
Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin seemed apoplectic that she and others might be omitted from both lists. One has to be somewhat sympathetic to Rubin. To be left both unpardoned and unarrested is to lose all standing among the “save democracy” social set.
Rubin, once dubbed the Post’s Republican columnist, has called for the Republican Party to be burned down and recently advised people how to keep panic alive despite the election: “You can’t talk broad themes. You have to boil it down to nuts and bolts, and you have to be pithy. What do I mean by pithy? How about this: Republicans want to kill your kids. It’s true.”
In a podcast, Rubin explained that Biden should pardon “thousands” to blunt Trump’s “initial round of revenge” from journalists to the “little guy and gal” counting votes. She advised that he should pardon whole “categories” of people to pardon anyone Trump may have “identified by name or type” to offer “protection from a maniac.”
In her most recent column, Rubin repeated the call for Biden to pardon “scores of Americans” due to a “reasonable fear that a weaponized FBI directed by a vengeful president will carry out threats to pursue his enemies.”
The key is to issue broad pardons to suggest that, absent such extraordinary action, “this maniac” would have purged whole areas of blue states. It is like telling everyone that you are wearing a tin-foil hat to prevent aliens from snatching you. When someone points out that they have not seen any aliens, you can respond, “See, it worked!”
The Biden White House is considering the use of such white-knight pardons to claim that the president did not protect just his son (and himself) with the pardon power but many others.
Biden wants to remove the stain of his abuse of the pardon power to benefit his own family by turning it into a literal party favor for other Democrats and Trump critics. Even though Trump has denied any interest in retribution, saying that “my revenge will be a success,” preemptive pardons leave the impression that they did in fact preempt something that would have occurred.
A white-knight pardon can also work when you are protecting someone who does not want to be saved. That is the case with a Trump pardon. Such a pardon is absolutely not needed and would constitute the most hostile pardon in history. The federal cases against Trump are effectively dead. Even though they were dismissed without prejudice, it is extremely unlikely they would be resumed. Moreover, the cases brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith were riddled with constitutional problems and unlikely to be sustained even with a conviction.
The only ongoing legal threat to Trump is from Democratic prosecutors on the state level, such as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. A pardon would not apply to such cases anyway.
Yet, to pardon Trump for nonexistent federal cases would be to suggest that Biden saved him from prosecution. This is the same president who did nothing for years until the cases collapsed. He would now claim that he worked to bring the nation together after calling Trump a virtual Nazi and his supporters “garbage.”
Trump may be the only one who is not interested in a trophy pardon. What is the value of being part of the resistance if you are not being pursued, persecuted or pardoned?
It seems like some of the same people who had hoped to be on the list for the Biden Inaugural balls are now making calls to make the Biden pardon list. If Biden were to yield to calls for hundreds or even thousands of pardons, the loss of political standing for those not making the list could become intolerable. For any self-respecting armchair resistance fighter in 2025, a Biden pardon could become the latest status symbol.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Can anyone really pardon a whole army of meddling trolls and political hacks without a backlash? I think NO.
I guess my advice to Biden is don’t. If one keeps trying to rig outcomes and getting the exact-opposite outcomes instead, prudence would suggest stop with the cute games.
The Democrats think they’re clever. They have not been clever. JUST STOP!
If Trump were a “fascist dictator”, why would he pay any attention to lame-duck pardons issued by his ousted predecessor? In other words, the pardons matter only to the extent that they believe that Trump is law-abiding, which apparently they do. And if they believe that Trump is law abiding, then the only conclusion that can be made is that those identified as needing pardons really did commit crimes.
The outrageous lawfare prosecution of subway hero Daniel Penny has failed. Perhaps we have now passed peak lawfare and are on the slope back to sanity.
Great result. What is interesting is that one or more jurors wanted to convict on recklessness but then acquitted on negligence. A big “f u” to Alvin Bragg.
True. And that raises the question, why the “f u” now but not in relation to the manslaughter charge? I can only offer a guess, but maybe the jurors sensed they were being manipulated by the prosecutor and judge.
That’s what I think too.
NotSoOld: They were. (being manipulated/pressured, subliminally as well as blatantly). And what I regret more is the ever-lovin’ stoking of that ole “race card,” -as if Daniel Penny would have done anything different if Neely were white.
“The case amplified many American fault lines, among them race, politics, crime, urban life, mental illness and homelessness. Neely was Black. Penny is white.” https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-12-09/veteran-daniel-penny-is-acquitted-in-nyc-subway-chokehold-case-over-jordan-neelys-death
Lin – you can always count on an MSM organ like the LAT to play the race card. They’re staffed by “castrated little robots” (in Tucker Carlson’s words) who are incapable of actual thought.
Funny that I just clicked onto this spot to send this to you, and see your reply. Listen to what the leader is saying….
(p.s. always appreciate your good comments, and I especially got a good laugh at a few of Babylon Bee’s headlines.)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/black-lives-matter-takes-heat-for-threatening-to-protest-if-daniel-penny-is-acquitted/vi-AA1vxEyg?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=28dca8cc38504fccbc7c4e6d82b3af27&ei=5
Except for what the insidious exploits of the Administrative State portend, there never was a threat to democracy posed by the 2024 election. It was all a ploy to frighten gullible voters to act against their better interests. Well informed persons rest assured that the media elites who spread the fear never believed it. The reckoning now is that those who participated in the false flag operations will suffer the consequences of those they deceived or might have expected to deceive. It remains an unfolding story told by the worsening ratings for legacy media.
Ron A. Hoffman,
Well said. All they had in the end, was to run on fear.
” there never was a threat to democracy posed by the 2024 election. ”
I know what you meant, but that is actually false as you phrased it. There was a clear and palpable threat to “democracy” (meaning a democratically elected representative republic, with government powers limited by a Constitution). That threat was posed by the frightening possibility of Harris elected President with a Democratic majority in House and Senate.
the broader picture for the dems. the Donald will be such a brutal dictator that he will not honor any pardon and use the pardon list to hunt down his enemies. instead of wearing that pardon as a badge of honor, it will be a target on their backs. haha..does anybody in the democrat party think things thru???
Off Topic Breaking News
Marine Vet Daniel Penny found not guilty in NYC chokehold.
The father of the victim at the center of the fatal New York City subway chokehold trial has sued the defendant as a Manhattan jury continued to deliberate the case Thursday.
Jordan Neely ‘s father, Andre Zachary, filed the suit Wednesday against Marine veteran Daniel Penny in New York Supreme Court.
Jordan Neely’s daddy is a dead beat dad trying get some cash while ignoring his son’s homeless & mental issues.
Jordan Neely’s daddy is a dead beat dad trying get some cash
He’ll probably succeed too, but not because of any merit. There is something called litigation quasi-rent extraction, which is just a fancy way of saying that the plaintiff counts on the defendant settling for less than the cost of the defendant’s legal fees. The plaintiff then gets ill-gotten gain without breaking any laws. That tactic doesn’t work on big defendants such as Disney who don’t want to set a precedent, but for Penny it probably will work since there’s no issue of setting a precedent (i.e., who else would be in a position to sue Penny without the case immediately being dismissed?).
* old man, Neely and Penney are both victims of the courts not placing Mr. Neely in the care of mental institution or half way house of sorts where meds are monitored and food, shelter and clothing provided. Mr. Neely had a profound mental illness and incapable of self care.
“The father of the victim at the center of the fatal New York City subway chokehold trial has sued the defendant”
IANAL, but Penny had his manslaughter charge previously dismissed, and today was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide by a jury. Wouldn’t the lack of a successful criminal prosecution make this lawsuit an uphill climb?
It could, but winning a civil suit is not foreclosed by the criminal verdict. For one thing, the criminal standard of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt, whereas in civil court it is a preponderance of the evidence. But also, as I mentioned above, this could be about extracting a settlement based on Penny’s projected legal costs, rather than actually winning before a jury.
If Biden does this, Trump should counter it by daily pardons of protected classes of people every day – every day. Protect conservatives, his family and supporters. And every day he should say I am only doing this because of what Biden did. The right – hell, the moderates, must fight the left on their own terms. They can’t be bigger than them or show how fair they are. That’s not what we did in WWII, is it? These are sick, vicious and dangerous people who must be caught and punished. Justice, not vengeance.
This latest panic attack by Democrats exposes one thing: they know they’re guilty of something. Lying, slander, fake news? They know, deep down, that they are guilty and that’s why they are so afraid. Trump should just throw their own words back at them: if you haven’t done anything wrong, you shouldn’t be worried.
A pardon is mercy and forgiveness of guilt. Let us assume Biden pardons a broad swath of Trump opponents. By name. Will they be seen, by name, as admittedly guilty as forgiven by the pardon? Does the pardon give each of them the Mark of Cain?
* The mark of Cain is a badge of honor , please. Smh
Anyone pardoned should be presumed guilty of felonious criminal acts and publicly identified. As felons, they should be banned from any government office or personally doing business with any government entity.
* 😂 the pardon is a catch 22…
A pardon is for convictions of crimes. This may have or may not have done doesn’t hold water. Argument?
Politicians are already too much like the nobility of old. The broad time period and unknown crimes aspects of Biden pardons executed and proposed stinks like a rotting whale on a beach. My gut instinct says pardons should not preceed at least an indictment. Evil, actually.
* absolutely old fish… trump is duty bound to prosecute via DOJ for crimes as the people would be. Destruction of public property by j6 committee requires it. Don’t let even 1 slide. He didn’t prosecute Hillary and that’s wrong.
He better go after them. They’ve cause endless woe.
@Shadow “Professor, you should retract that statement.”
Do you think Turls isn’t aware of that lawfare? Not aware of that lawfare that is both a civil tort and at times felonious? Like the DNC’s Russia Dossier they ran through the Obama Department of Justice to destroy Navy veteran Carter Page and others like Trump? And still continued parts of under the Biden Department of Justice?
Many of the most senior generals in that lawfare are members of the same DC Bar Association that Professor Turley is. They are all also lifelong Democrats as he is. Hard not to notice that, as he keeps his blinders on to stay the course. He has known most of them personally for many, many years.
The DC Bar Association the Professor is a member of while teaching at Georgetown has some really juicy Rules of Professional Conduct for its’ members, (including an obligation of members of that bar to report fellow members that they believe have violated the Bar’s Rules) i.e.:
(a) Obstruct another party’s access to evidence or alter, destroy, or conceal evidence, or counsel or assist another person to do so, if the lawyer reasonably should know that the evidence is or may be the subject of discovery or subpoena in any pending or imminent proceeding.
(b) Falsify evidence, counsel or assist a witness to testify falsely, or offer an inducement to a witness that is prohibited by law;
https://www.dcbar.org/For-Lawyers/Legal-Ethics/Rules-of-Professional-Conduct/Advocate/Fairness-to-Opposing-Party-and-Counsel
Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Attorney General Sally Yates repeatedly violated multiple sections of those Rules of Professional Conduct while serving Obama. As did FBI Directors James Comey and Andrew McCabe. As did Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
All did so while committing felonies to get espionage warrants to spy on Carter Page as their gateway to violate the 4th Amendment rights of Carter Page and through him Trump and most of the other people in the Trump 2016 campaign. And their family members.
Like Professor Turley, all are his fellow lawyers who are members of the Washington DC Bar Association. Not one of them has been even disciplined by that bar association.
Just as that other member of the DC Bar, Kevin Clinesmith, wasn’t disciplined for forging ‘incriminating’ evidence to portray Carter Page as a traitor, even after his conviction for forging false evidence. Never lost his license from the DC Bar Association to practice law!
‘Nothing to see here’ lives on as part of Professor Turley’s reality construct when it comes to his fellow members of the DC Bar Association! Nothing more than mild criticism at times is required.
If Trump as they proclaim is going to be a Dictator from day one, what good would a pardon do? A Dictator can do whatever he wants and the Biden pardons wouldnt stop anything from happening to the pardon seekers. Its all BS. My suggestion to Trump is he should float the idea of a pardon for Don Jr, EriC and Ivanka for lets say the past 10 years his first day in office (no they havent done anything illegal) but lets see the left hypocrites go bonkers over that idea.
I believe “pre-emptive” or “blanket” pardons are ineffective, invalid and unconstitutional. I am not aware of any judicial decision, much less a decision from SCOTUS, that holds otherwise. I believe a valid constitutional pardon must identify the person pardoned and the crime committed. Yes, Gerald Ford and other Presidents may have granted “pardons” which are far broader but they have never been challenged in Court. Those “pardons” are simply attempts to grant immunity from prosecution, which is found nowhere in the Constitution. There is a big difference between “immunity” and a “pardon”, and it is not only a language difference. The next AG (Bondi) should pick one criminal act not specifically named in one of the “pardons” Biden will be handing out and charge the so-called “pardonee” with it, prompting the defendant to assert the “pardon” as a defense and having a clear issue to be decided by the Courts. It is about time for clarity.
@Wiseoldlawyer: That’s a very thought provoking suggestion! But what are the chances that Chief Justice Roberts would mount a furious defense against bringing it up? Demanding SCOTUS punt instead as they did on all the Trump 2016 campaign applications?
“The next AG (Bondi) should pick one criminal act not specifically named in one of the “pardons” Biden will be handing out and charge the so-called “pardonee” with it, prompting the defendant to assert the “pardon” as a defense and having a clear issue to be decided by the Courts. It is about time for clarity.”
“But what are the chances that Chief Justice Roberts would mount a furious defense against bringing it up? ”
I would like to see a plausible analysis of what it would take to defrock Roberts as Chief Justice and name someone else. Personally, I would prefer Thomas, but I could live with Gorsuch. So far as I have been able to determine, the designation of CJ and the very existence of that title and any power its holder wields, do not exist at all in the Constitution, or in any pertinent statute or legislation; all appears to be entirely tradition-based internal procedure of the Court itself.
* It’s a corrupting of pardon. This rises to immunity. Let’s see if ANYONE does anything.
Hunter didn’t get a pardon. He got immunity.
* Yes, far too much power when corruptly used. It doesn’t fit the definition of a pardon.
Preemptive pardons are unconstitutional.
If one can be pardoned for a crime they haven’t been accused, charged or convicted of, the next step from the the dictators in Chief will be convicting people of crimes they haven’t yet committed.
This preemptive pardon business is ugly and inching the executive office closer to full dictatorship.
The U.S. Supreme Court needs to determine if these preemptive pardons are constitutional.
I’m sure some forward thinking AG will challenge these preemptive pardons.
“I’m sure some forward thinking AG will challenge these preemptive pardons.”
Merrick Garland? What Would Eric Holder Do?
Loretta Lynch?
Sally Yates?
“We have an entire constitutional system designed to prevent arbitrary prosecutions or authoritarian measures. ”
Professor, you should retract that statement. It has bee proven demonstrably false by the Biden “lawfare” and the outrages (still coninuing) in New York.
It isn’t the appeals. It’s the unwillingness to carry out the sentence of execution against a Muslim terrorist. Whether imprisoned in the USA or in Gitmo. Collectively the Obama/Biden administrations have had 10 years to carry out that sentence. They haven’t even tried.
They should charge Liz Cheney with Destruction of Evidence 18 USC 1519 and see how that plays out. Should keep her busy for a few years at least.
Only on the Jan 6 Committee issue of criminal conduct, did the members and staff destroy the record and any devices used to create the “report”? If so, is that not a crime?
@MRR: “Only on the Jan 6 Committee issue of criminal conduct, did the members and staff destroy the record and any devices used to create the “report”?”
Those who were members of the DC Bar Association like Professor Turley at the very least violated their Bar Association’s Rules Of Professional Conduct.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for any of them to be disbarred as a result of those blatant violations.
Nor for Professor Turley to criticize his fellow members for those violations – much less criticize them for their ‘ill-considered statements’. And never, EVER a word when their actions are outright criminal.
Democrat Double Standards have metastasized through both their personal and professional lives, whether or not they’re the Democrat members of the Washington DC Bar Association. Fourth Stage… there will be no miraculous cure.
* Didn’t Richard Nixon get into big trouble for destruction of some tapes or somethin’?
Trump has repeatedly and often incoherently threatened his “enemies” of all kinds including privately owned media companies with lawfare retribution. And Trump’s FBI Director nominee Kash Patel has promised to vindictively prosecute private media entities for unspecified crimes. The Left and its MSM lapdogs of course are enemies of the First Amendment and civil liberties.
In the pathological American political eco-system there are few genuine “good guys”.
“Trump has repeatedly and often incoherently threatened his “enemies” of all kinds including privately owned media companies with lawfare retribution.”
You aren’t the first False Flag Radical Communist telling that lie. For old time’s sake, give us a rousing rendition of the ’51 intelligence experts’ war cry!
… “Despite Trump’s ill-considered statement about how the J6 Committee members should go to jail for what they did on NBC this weekend, “…
“this weekend” HA Ha ha – How about going to Jail for the past 12 years! The J6 Committee was a broadcast Lynching Festival. To top it off with the O.J. Simpson’s Bronco Chase style coverage of DJT being ‘booked’ into the Fulton County Jail. The “Mug Shot” still ruminating in my head, along with Hillary’s puss and Associate Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson (leaks), Schiff, Cheney, Bragg, Willis, Letitia A. James – O.M.G. someone please give me an Enema – I’m tell’en ya’ll I’m about to explode if I have to swallow another spoon full of this S_ _ _ .
(Pardon my French)
If the slug at 1600 wants to really underscore how much he detests the United States, he might consider a pardon for Nidal Hasan, the Army terrorist who killed 13 soldiers and civilians at Ft. Hood. back in 2009. That’s right, Virginia, he is still alive on death row at Ft. Leavenworth thanks to endless appeals.