Below is my column in the New York Post on the news reports that President Joe Biden is seriously considering preemptive pardons for political allies. In granting what I have called “White Knight pardons,” Biden would achieve more of a political than legal purpose. Democrats are worried about the collapsing narrative that President-elect Donald Trump will destroy democracy, end future elections, and conduct sweeping arrests of everyone from journalists to homosexuals. That narrative, of course, ignores that we have a constitutional system of overlapping protections that has blocked such abuses for over two centuries. Ironically, preemptive pardons would do precisely what Biden suggests that he is deterring: create a dangerous immunity for presidents and their allies in committing criminal abuses.
Here is the column:
There are growing indications that President Joe Biden is about to fundamentally change the use of presidential pardons by granting “prospective” or “preemptive” pardons to political allies. Despite repeated denials of President-elect Donald Trump that he is seeking retaliation against opponents and his statements that he wants “success [to be] my revenge,” Democratic politicians and pundits have called for up to thousands of such pardons.
While there is little threat of any viable prosecution of figures like the members of the January 6th Committee, the use of “White Knight pardons” offers obvious political benefits. After many liberals predicted the imminent collapse of democracy and that opponents would be rounded up in mass by the Trump Administration, they are now contemplating the nightmare that democracy might survive and that there will be no mass arrests.
The next best thing to a convenient collapse of democracy is a claim that Biden’s series of preemptive pardons averted it. It is enough to preserve the narrative in the face of a stable constitutional system . Indeed, Biden’s pardon list has replaced the usual Inauguration Ball lists as the “must-have” item this year. Pardon envy is sweeping over the Beltway as politicians and pundits push to be included on the list of presumptive Trump enemies.
The political stunt will come at a cost. Preemptive pardons could become the norm as presidents pardon whole categories of allies and even themselves to foreclose federal prosecutions. It can quickly become the norm in what I recently wrote about as our “age of rage.”
It will give presidents cover to wipe away any threat of prosecution for friends, donors, and associates. This can include self-pardons issued as implied condemnations of their political opponents. It could easily become the final act of every president to pardon himself and all of the members of his Administration. We would then have an effective immunity rule for outgoing parties in American politics.
Ironically, there is even less need for such preemptive pardons after the Supreme Court recognized that presidents are immune for many decisions made during their presidencies. Likewise, members have robust constitutional protections for their work under Article I, as do journalists and pundits under the Constitution’s First Amendment.
We have gone over two centuries without such blanket immunity. In my book The Indispensable Right, I discuss our periods of violent political strife and widespread arrests. Thomas Jefferson referred to John Adams’s Federalist government as “the reign of the witches.” Yet, even presidents in those poisonous times did not do what Joe Biden is now contemplating.
Moreover, presidential pardons have a checkered history, including presidents pardoning family members or political donors. Bill Clinton did both. Not surprisingly, Clinton last week attempted to add his own wife’s name to the sought-after Biden pardon list. He added, however, “I don’t think I should be giving public advice on the pardon power…It’s a very personal thing.”
That is precisely the point. The power was not created to be used for “very personal things,” like pardoning your half-brother and a fugitive Democratic donor on your last day in office.
Yet, despite that history, no president has seen fit to go as far as where Biden appears to be heading.
We have a constitutional system that allows for overlapping protections of individuals from abusive prosecutions and convictions. It does not always work as fast as we would want, but it has sustained the oldest and most stable constitutional system in history.
These figures would prefer to fundamentally change the use of the pardon power to maintain an apocalyptic narrative that was clearly rejected by the public in this election. If you cannot prove the existence of the widely touted Trump enemies list, a Biden pardon list is the next best thing.
After years of lying to the American people about the influence-peddling scandal and promising not to consider a pardon for his son, Biden would end his legacy with the ultimate dishonesty: converting pardons into virtual party favors.
In doing so, he has ironically lowered the standard and expectations for his successors. Joe Biden has become the president that Richard Nixon only imagined. He would establish with utter clarity that this power is not presidential, but personal and political . . . and many in the Beltway are waiting to give him a standing ovation.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
I don’t think these pardons ar legally binding. See https://ericrasmusen.substack.com/p/more-on-pardons
President Joe Biden has already designed a pardon to protect himself and his family from corruption charges, by pardoning Hunter Biden for crimes not yet charged over the past decade.
If he preemptively pardons corrupt public officials who abused positions of authority to promote Democrat purposes and harass and target Donald Trump, then he is further safeguarding corruption from public accountability.
The same people who think this is a good idea, would be rioting, again, if Donald Trump preemptively pardoned everyone on his Cabinet, and team from any future charges.
Excellent analysis: why do some folks constantly accuse others of doing what they are already doing?
That is the democrat way, all they know, projection.
* Preemptive pardons would go far in the making of a monarchy?
Crimes known but not yet charged perhaps as in the J6 committee destroying evidence maybe? Blanket pardons would speak to where the skeletons are buried maybe.
Trump disappointingly will go after no one when he should. The American people truly suffered under Biden.
Right, SCOTUS should reject the idea that a president has preemptive pardon power, doesn’t make sense, would imply the possibility of horrible scenarios that our Framers of our Constitution surely did not intend. The simply & short wording of Constitution, Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, grants the President the power to “grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” People are innocent until proven guilty, hence if not convicted there is no “offence against the United States.” Can’t pardon someone innocent before the law. And there is nothing in those words to express a pardon power for crimes not even indicted for or for crimes yet to be discovered. Any SCOTUS case that seem to have erred on this can be overturned. Hence if Biden does try to “pardon” a bunch of democrats preemptively Trump’s DOJ should go after any perceived crimes as if the “pardon” is invalid and let SCOTUS clarify.
* Right, King Arthur and the knights of the oval office.
Bet it would go to SCOTUS. He’d at least need to specify the crime not yet charged. Pardon for J6 for destroying records of the investigation knowing it’s a crime.
* …EXCEPT in cases of impeachment? Joe isn’t just pardoning Hunter. He’s pardoning Hunter’s crimes that also involve impeachable offenses by Joe Don.
When first we practice to deceive…
I don’t see why it should be accepted that preemptive pardons, for unknown or unstated crimes, for a period of time will withstand court scrutiny. To me it seems in conflict with the 5th amendment requirement for “due process.”
How does it conflict? On the contrary, with a pardon nobody is being deprived of life, liberty, or property, so what kind of “due process” are you looking for, and why?
The people harmed by the crimes are deprived of due process protections when the system is subverted.
We & SCOTUS should reject the idea that a president has preemptive pardon power, doesn’t make sense, would imply the possibility of horrible scenarios that our Framers of our Constitution surely did not intend. The simply & short wording of Constitution, Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, grants the President the power to “grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” People are innocent until proven guilty, hence if not convicted there is no “offence against the United States.” Can’t pardon someone innocent before the law. And there is nothing in those words to express a pardon power for crimes not even indicted for or for crimes yet to be discovered. Hence if Biden does “pardon” a bunch of democrat scoundrels Trump’s DOJ should go after them as if the “pardon” is invalid and let SCOTUS clarify.
Jonathan: DJT made a lot of promises during the campaign. He promised to lower grocery prices. Now he says “it’s hard to do that”. And DJT promised to quickly end the Russian/Ukraine war. In June DJT said this: “Before I even arrive at the Oval Office, shortly after we win the presidency, I will have the horrible war between Russia and Ukraine settled”. DJT repeated the promise this month.
We’re now just 5 weeks from inauguration and DJT has yet to end the war. DJT was asked about this at a Mar-a-Lago press conference yesterday. He now says “I’m going to try”. Talk about equivocation!
DJT lied about bringing down grocery prices. Now he lies about ending the Russian/Ukraine war before inauguration day. So many lies. But people who voted for him once again bought into the lies. Hard to figure.
What planet do you come from? He is not yet President. However, he is the de facto President since Joe has already checked out.
The United States, and likely the whole world, is about to go through chemotherapy. It will be unpleasant for some time as the patient is in critical condition.
.. Delusional Thinking doesn’t understand that if the circumstances change, ‘promises’ change… During the ‘Transitional Time window originally targeted by the President Elect, the Lame Duck now Slime Ball President is busy throwing More and More money at Ukraine to uber-escalate the War, instead of backing off in deference to the New President.. no.. instead he is making it a moving Target on purpose so Trump cannot wrap his arms around it…. and..thus…ending the war before Jan 20 is a different animal than the one Trump promised to take on.. As for Grocery price.. they can’t automatically drop down ,, as Delusional Thinking would have it……….
“He promised to lower grocery prices. Now he says “it’s hard to do that”
As difficult as that is, Trump will lower them. Biden increased grocery prices.
” DJT promised to quickly end the Russian/Ukraine war.”
Trump will likely succeed, but we need to remember Biden caused the war.
“We’re now just 5 weeks from inauguration and DJT has yet to end the war.”
Trump has already done a lot, and the parties are considering ending the war.
Whenever there was a possibility of ending the war, Biden pushed for things to keep it going and expand it.
Dennis, you are a nutcase. Trump is not yet President, but the world sees him as President and Biden as a nobody. Quickly, the world leaders are changing positions and doing things to ease Trump’s plans.
How can Trump negotiate peace when Biden/0bama are escalating the war by killing top generals with IEDs?
Gigi says: December 17, 2024 at 5:20 PM:
Tom: where in the Constitution does it say that the government can’t tap your phone without a warrant?
Gigi, where in your Democrat Constitution does it say that the Obama/Biden government are allowed to order their last two Attorney Generals and last two FBI Directors to go to FISA courts and perjure themselves to those courts to get counterespionage spy warrants to intercept ALL communications from anyone within the Two-Hop Rule of Trump?
The ‘Obama Doing God’s Work Clause’? Or did everyone involved what are normally prosecuted serial felonies collude to hide that from their boss in the Oval Office?
Where do we go to read that carve out to allow the Obama/Biden Crime Cartel to do that within your version of the Constitution, Gigi?
Your priceless copy of Lavarenty Beria’s personal first edition of The Communist Manifesto?
Whatever gives you the faintest idea that you have the slightest amount of credibility here? As opposed to being viewed as you are: a disgusting slimy, slandering skank.
Old Airborne Dog
A pardon would mean all those Democrats could be compelled to testify under oath about their pardoned activities–a potentially embarrassing thing. The risk of perjury would haunt the proceedings like Banquo’s ghost.
Now the Democrats could counter that they can still claim the 5th Amendment for state crimes, but that would not apply to exclusively federal crimes, like malfeasance in their duties as federal office holders. This is not a narrow distinction. The states aren’t even allowed to uphold federal immigration law even when federal officials won’t. I wonder who set that precedent?!?
Democrats might avoid jail, but a carefully orchestrated shaming could last years. I would suggest private hearings and investigations so that witnesses can’t grandstand… then leak the findings to friendly media. Yet another precedent, courtesy of the Democrat Party!!
Basically, mass pardons are not without huge political risks. Commutations are much easier to justify.
I would add that to accept a pardon is an acceptance of guilt and repeatedly taking the 5th has a really bad look.
No, accepting a pardon is NOT an admission of guilt. It never has been. There’s a widespread PERCEPTION to that effect, but it’s wrong, and always has been wrong.
That’s fine. In Biden’s case, I’ll go with the PERCEPTION of guilt.
Turley, Turley, Turley: shame on you. You KNOW that there IS an enemies list
Gigi claims there is an “Enemies List”. And WORSE: it has every single unindicted Democrat felon from the failed Obama/Biden 2016, 2017, 2018 etc Annual Trump Insurrection. She is wailing in her rotgut cheap wine that the Obama Obama Coup D’etat in America won’t continue unabated.
Gigi, let’s take a trip down that your ol’ favorite Memory Lane Of Unindicted Democrat Felons:
“We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”
– Barack Obama
___________________
“We will stop him.”
– Peter Strzok to fellow FBI sextoy Lisa Page
_____________________________________________
“[Obama] wants to know everything we’re doing.”
– Lisa Page to FBI sextoy Peter Strzok
____________________________________________
“I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way he gets elected — but I’m afraid we can’t take that risk It’s like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before 40.”
– Peter Strzok to fellow FBI sextoy Lisa Page
___________________________________________
“People on the 7th floor to include Director Comey are fired up about this [Trump] Alfa Bank server.”
– Deputy FBI Director Bill Priestap
________________
The Obama/Biden Soviet Democrat Coup D’etat in America is the most egregious abuse of power and the most prodigious crime in American political history. The co-conspirators are:
– Barack Obama and Joe Biden (ably directed by by Valerie Jarratt and Kathy Ruemmler)
– Obama/Biden Political Prosecutors for 2012 and 2020, Jack Smith and Lisa Monaco
– Obama/Biden ‘Russia Dossier’ staff Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler, Marc Elias and now Biden DNI Jake Sullivan
– Obama Attorney Generals Loretta Lynch and Sally Yates
– Obama FBI Directors James Comey and Andrew McCabe
– Obama FBI lawyers/agents Peter Strozk, Lisa Page, Bill Priestep, and Glen Ohr
– Obama DoJ personnel Bruce and Nellie Ohr
– Obama White House lawyer, James Baker
– Clinton ‘Russia Dossier’ staff Christopher Steele, Simpson, Joseph Mifsud, Alexander Downer, Stefan “The Walrus” Halper
– Clinton/Obama/DNC ‘Russia Dossier’ staff Mifsud, Alexander Downer, Stefan “The Walrus” Halper,, Sir Richard Dearlove
– Obama Deputy AG Rod Roseinstein’s Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his fellow felon ‘investigators’ Andrew Weissmann and Kevin Clinesmith
And a deplorable and massive supporting staff of fellow Democrat felons:
Susan Rice, Eric Ciaramella, Azra Turk, Kerry, Huma Abedin, Sheryl Mills, John Brennan, Gina Haspel, James Clapper, Louis Lerner, Samantha Power
Igor Danchenko, Fiona Hill, Charles H. Dolan, Strobe Talbot, Cody Shear, Victoria Nuland, Rodney Joffe, and George Soros
Merrick Garland, Ray “Red Hat” Epps, Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, Juan Merchan, Emmit Sullivan, Matthew Colangelo et al.
Any of those names NOT on the “Enemies List” you claim terrifies you Gigi, windsock of Democrat lies?
Old Airborne Dog
Thanks for doing the work. Otherwise, it’s so long a list voters will likely forget. We need to remind them at mid-terms what a lawless criminal, constitution-hating group of pathetic losers these dems are.
Donald Trump should challenge pre-emptive pardons through the federal courts. Ultimately, the US Supreme Court needs to be heard on this issue.
Tom: it’s in the Constitution. The Supreme Court cannot rescind the Constitution.
No Gigi. It is not in the Constitution. Only the pardon power is in the Constitution-there is no specific language in the Constitution as to whether it applies to preemptive pardon. The Supreme Court INTERPRETED THE CONSTITUTION as saying only that the crime must have been committed at the time the pardon/clemency is issued.
NOTHING stops Congress from amending the Constitution, and if done with enough votes of the states, the Supreme Court would find in constitutional. In the 1970s, a bill to limit the pardon was presented to Congress accordingly, but did not go anywhere.
Now that we see how people like Biden can abuse it (and people like you can spread stupid nonsense), there might come a time when Congress tries again.
Excerpted from “Wikipedia”:
“Federal pardons in the United States are granted only by the U.S. president, pursuant to their authority under the U.S. Constitution to grant “reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States”.[1] Pardons extend to all federal criminal offenses, except in cases of impeachment,[1][2] and entail various forms of clemency, including commuting or postponing a sentence, remitting a fine or restitution, delaying the imposition of a punishment, and providing amnesty to an entire group or class of individuals.[3][4]
The president may grant pardons on their own accord or in response to requests made through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney.[5] The Pardon Attorney investigates and reviews applications for clemency but serves only an advisory role; the president may disregard the findings or bypass the office altogether.[6]
The pardon power is considered “plenary” and thus generally cannot be restricted or modified by Congress or the judiciary.[4][7] In Ex parte Garland (1867), the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed the “unlimited” nature of federal pardons (except for impeachment related crimes) and broadened its scope to include offenses for which legal proceedings have not been initiated. Pardons have been used for presumptive cases, most notably when President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon over any possible crimes connected with the Watergate scandal;[8] the legal effect of such “open pardons” has not been determined by the judiciary.[9][2]”
So, Tom, the holding in Ex parte Garland made clear that the broad scope of presidential pardons includes “offenses for which legal proceedings have not been initiated”–as an example: Ford’s pardon of Nixon.
From “Thought Co”:
“Article V of the Constitution itself establishes the two ways in which it may be amended:
“The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.”
In simple terms, Article V prescribes that amendments may be proposed either by the U.S. Congress or by a constitutional convention when and if demanded by two-thirds of the legislatures of the states.”
Biden is abusing nothing–it wouldn’t be necessary to consider broad pre-emptive pardons but for Trump, his mental illness, the “I am your retribution” promise and the Kash Patel hit list.
Listen stupid. Nothing you said has anything to do with what I said, which is, “that the crime must have been committed at the time the pardon/clemency is issued.” (whether know, prosecuted, or pending) You are so very very dense.
Only the pardon power is in the Constitution-there is no specific language in the Constitution as to whether it applies to preemptive pardon.
What possible argument could be made that it doesn’t apply to those?
In any case, as you yourself stated, the Supreme Court has already long ago ruled that preemptive pardons are just fine. As you said, it ruled that the only limit on pardons is that the president can’t pardon a crime that hasn’t happened yet, because there’s nothing to pardon. In card-gaming terms, a pardon is an instant, not a persistent effect. It wipes away offenses that already exist, and then goes away. It doesn’t hang around to wipe away new offenses.
That means preemptive pardons are good. But if that weren’t enough, the fact that George Washington granted preemptive pardons should be enough to prove that they are indeed constitutional.
“Tom: it’s in the Constitution. The Supreme Court cannot rescind the Constitution.”
Where in the Constitution or Bill of Rights do we go to read your “Reproductive Rights” to a taxpayer funded elective birth control abortion twice a year?
Where is that abortion right you keep talking about, Gigi?
Your idea of a Constitution is Marx’s Communist Manifesto.
Tom: where in the Constitution does it say that the government can’t tap your phone without a warrant? It doesn’t–but the right of privacy in your home and papers covers this. Similarly, the rights of privacy and personal freedom include bodily autonomy and the right to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy prior to the age of fetal viability.
There’s no right to privacy per se. Search and sieze is for cause, medical records, lawyers and attorneys perhaps are private? In an extreme dystopia I presume a warrant to search for pregnancy might be had but the medical records obtained?
* I’m afraid I’ve not ever understood how anyone knows about an abortion or identity dysphoria except the persons themselves and their physicians. Why is this public knowledge?
The demoncrats went after completely innocent people, Trump, Bannon, Navarro, Flynn, Stone, Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Parents of children abused by the demoncrat NEA, Priests who stood for babies lives against demoncrat murderers, Tea Party 501c3’s, on and on and on it goes.
Obviously the Republicans and 3rd party Libertarians need pre-emptive pardons against the demoncrat’s dishonest lawfare, which they are still carrying on with to this very day.
Instead of us seeing the shield applied where it should have been and is currently needed, for innocent Republicans, due to demoncrat prosecutorial corruption and disgusting attacks on our legal system, the demoncrats, full well knowing their personal guilt in their huge lawfare attacks for almost a decade now, and their concurrent criminal misconduct while carrying them out, the demoncrats are scared to death they will be held normally acco8untable for the many laws they broke right out in the open in our faces. They of course lie and pretend Trump will come after them with lawfare, but what is really likely to happen to them is NOTHING, since the DC blob will have their backs and be ready to pounce again, against Republicans, the very second they get the chance.
I note the article tells me that Mr Turley has been privy to the insider talk going around about many demoncrats and their lawyers joisting for biden pardons.
The demoncrats will use it as a criminal never in jail card, and also as a big fat lie that Trump is an aggressive tyrant going after them. “Oh, we had to, the oppression was so terrifying by the white nationalist racist homphobix xenophobic modern hitler wahh wahh wahhhhh”…
Of course zero evidence is needed for the braindead demoncrats and their party of brainless flooosies.
Turley, Turley, Turley: shame on you. You KNOW that there IS an enemies list–Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee for a 10-year term to run the FBI, put it in his book “Government Gangsters”. From “MSN”:
“Kash Patel, a former Trump administration official, outlined an extensive list of individuals he considered part of the “deep state.” In his 2022 book Government Gangsters, he lists 60 people who are alleged to have harmed the government of former President Donald Trump. Government officials, political appointees, and other noteworthy individuals are highlighted in Patel’s compilation.
Patel charged these people with plotting against Trump and advancing a “tyrannical” agenda in interviews and public remarks. Many people saw the list as a contemporary enemies list, similar to the one kept by President Richard Nixon, when he declared his desire to pursue these individuals “criminally or civilly.”
The Individuals on Patel’s List
The following individuals were named in Patel’s list, referred to as “Members of the Executive Branch Deep State” in his book:
Michael Atkinson – Former Inspector General of the Intelligence Community
Lloyd Austin – Defense Secretary under President Joe Biden
Brian Auten – Supervisory Intelligence Analyst, FBI
James Baker – Former FBI General Counsel and Twitter Deputy General Counsel
Bill Barr – Former Attorney General under Trump
John Bolton – Former National Security Adviser under Trump
Stephen Boyd – Former Chief of Legislative Affairs, FBI
Joe Biden – President of the United States
John Brennan – Former CIA Director under Obama
John Carlin – Former DOJ National Security Division Head under Trump
Eric Ciaramella – Former National Security Council Staffer
Pat Cipollone – Former White House Counsel under Trump
James Clapper – Former Director of National Intelligence under Obama
Hillary Clinton – Former Secretary of State and Presidential Candidate
James Comey – Former FBI Director
Elizabeth Dibble – Former Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy, London
Mark Esper – Former Secretary of Defense under Trump
Alyssa Farah – Former Trump Director of Strategic Communications
Evelyn Farkas – Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense under Obama
Sarah Isgur Flores – Former DOJ Communications Head under Trump
Merrick Garland – Attorney General under Biden
Stephanie Grisham – Former Trump Press Secretary
Kamala Harris – Vice President under Biden
Gina Haspel – CIA Director under Trump
Fiona Hill – Former National Security Council Staffer
Curtis Heide – FBI Agent
Eric Holder – Former Attorney General under Obama
Robert Hur – Special Counsel for Biden Classified Documents Investigation
Cassidy Hutchinson – Former Aide to Trump’s Chief of Staff
Nina Jankowicz – Former Director, Disinformation Governance Board under Biden
Lois Lerner – Former IRS Director under Obama
Loretta Lynch – Former Attorney General under Obama
Charles Kupperman – Former Trump Deputy National Security Adviser
Gen. Kenneth Mackenzie – Former CENTCOM Commander
Andrew McCabe – Former FBI Deputy Director
Ryan McCarthy – Former Secretary of the Army under Trump
Mary McCord – Former DOJ National Security Official under Obama
Denis McDonough – Secretary of Veterans Affairs under Biden
Gen. Mark Milley – Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Lisa Monaco – Deputy Attorney General under Biden
Sally Myer – Former FBI Supervisory Attorney
Robert Mueller – Former FBI Director and Special Counsel
Bruce Ohr – Former DOJ Official
Nellie Ohr – Former CIA Employee
Lisa Page – Former FBI Counsel
Pat Philbin – Former Trump Deputy White House Counsel
John Podesta – Former Counselor to Obama and Biden Climate Adviser
Samantha Power – Former U.N. Ambassador under Obama
Bill Priestap – Former FBI Counterintelligence Official
Susan Rice – Former National Security Adviser under Obama
Rod Rosenstein – Former Deputy Attorney General under Trump
Peter Strzok – Former FBI Official
Jake Sullivan – National Security Adviser under Biden
Michael Sussman – Former Lawyer for the Democratic National Committee
Miles Taylor – Former DHS Official under Trump
Timothy Thibault – Former FBI Agent
Andrew Weissman – Former Mueller Investigation Deputy
Alexander Vindman – Former National Security Council Director
Christopher Wray – FBI Director under Trump and Biden
Sally Yates – Former Acting Attorney General”
Turley: you also KNOW that whether or not Trump gets away with prosecuting people, like journalists, political opponents, etc.–the cost to defend and get the order of dismissal will be very expensive. What you DON’T say, Turley, that you SHOULD say is that never before in our history has there been a vindictive, petty convicted criminal who has promised “retribution” against his perceived enemies. A constant theme at his rallies was: “I am your retribution”. Of course, because of MAGA media, the disciples have been whipped up into believing that these people are bad and have done bad things—none of which is true. AND, because there has never before been such an “enemies list”, Biden is placed in the position of deciding whether to pre-emptively pardon them, which would be the right thing to do.
Maya Angelou said: “when someone shows you who they are, believe them”. Kash has given us his enemies list–Biden should believe him.
@Gigi Turley, Turley, Turley: shame on you.
Gigi, when everybody knows you’re a slimy slandering skank… why do you come to post your lies every day when you know you’re reviled like seeing the appearance of a smear of dog shyte on your shoes?
We saw the best you have to offer in Hunter Biden’s crotch shots on that laptop you lied was Putin propaganda.
Hunter Biden Laptop Online
https://bidenreport.com/#p=231
Given the explicit nature of the text and pictures of the Biden Laptop, this online version of the laptop
contents is for an adult readership only.
ISBN: 978-1-7371866-3-2
@2022 by ICU, LLC
Biden pre-emptively pardoning criminals. Good to know. Thank you.
Meanwhile, Trump success will be his revenge. We, the American people, are behind him. We are supporting him. He represents MAGA. That is what any American with any degree of common sense, critical thinking and logic know. That is what winning looks like.
Upstate: part of the MAGA indoctrination is to cause folks like you to believe that you are in the majority. You are not. Trump lied about immediately delivering sharp drops in the cost of groceries, and that’s why so many people voted for him who otherwise would not have. Now, even Trump admits that was a lie. None of the people on Patel’s enemies list is a criminal–but Trump is. One point of my post is that Turley is trying to criticize Biden for trying to pre-emptively remediate the damage Trump would do by wasting federal resources trying to prosecute people solely on the basis of his petty vindictiveness. And, more people voted for Kamala Harris in 2024 that voted for Trump in 2016, and Trump received less than half of the popular vote. The popular vote in 2024 represented slightly over 60% of people eligible to vote–so you MAGAs don’t even begin to speak for “we, the American people”. And, if you’ve seen recent polls, the majority of Americans do not support most of Trump’s nominees for various posts.
“Upstate: part of the MAGA indoctrination is to cause folks like you to believe that you are in the majority. You are not.”
In Gigi’s world of the Democrat Commie Borg – Trump did NOT win the majority of the vote.
Gigi: still the slandering slut who serves as the Democrat Fire Ho of lies.
Spewing more of MSM lies? Of course you do.
Who in the world is Mayan Avenue, a friend of Betsy Ross???
A whiff of plagiarism there:
https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/who-are-the-60-people-on-kash-patels-enemieslist-kamala-harris-joe-biden-hillary-clinton-article-116304224
A whiff of plagiarism there:
That’s the plagiarism stench of the Qualifying Brown Vagina DEI Hire that Gigi comes here to lie for!
“Turley, Turley, Turley: shame on you. ”
Gigi, shame on YOU. The web links to your spraddle legged, gaping crotch shots in the Biden Bribery Laptop get more upvotes than your lies here do.
Tells you what readers here are more interested in about you! You are one really, REALLY disgusting slimy, slandering Soviet skank.
Hunter Biden Laptop Online
https://bidenreport.com/#p=231
Given the explicit nature of the text and pictures of the Biden Laptop, this online version of the laptop
contents is for an adult readership only.
ISBN: 978-1-7371866-3-2
@2022 by ICU, LLC
Gigi ends her comment with “Maya Angelou said: ‘when someone shows you who they are, believe them’. Kash has given us his enemies list–Biden should believe him.”
When Gigi shows us who she is (vindictive, hateful, vengeful, of low intelligence, dishonest, and partisan), believe her.
“Turley, Turley, Turley.”
Yet another thing Gigi has copycatted from me, who responded to George with “George. George. George.”
I bet Gigi has learned more from this blog than she has in high school. Maybe she defends Biden because she also plagiarized to get through
Jonathan: Breaking news! NY SC Justice Merchan just ruled that DJT is not entitled to presidential immunity for the 34-count criminal convictions over his hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. DJT will appeal but that could take years. The next step is for Merchan to sentence DJT. Many legal experts predict Merchan will sentence DJT to some prison time –especially because the former president attacked the Justice, his family members and has 10 contempt citations on his record. Many predict Merchan will stay any sentence pending DJT’s appeals. If DJT loses his appeals the stay will be lifted once he leaves office.
So until that happens DJT remains a “convicted felon” as he walks back into the WH with that hanging around his neck. That’s the first time that has happened in all of American history!
And the majority of Americans saw through the lawfare BS and voted, gladly in many cases, for a “convicted felon” knowing full well it was BS. Did I mention the “conviction” was BS? The majority of Americans voted it was.
How marvelous!
Upstate: Nope. Trump did not receive a majority of the popular vote, and many people who otherwise would not have voted for him did so because he LIED about immediately bringing down the cost of groceries. He also lied about personal wealth “soaring” and a precipitous drop in the cost of housing–all lies. The issue of Trump’s criminal conviction was not on the ballot—whoever in MAGA media told you that it was lied to you.
What is this MAGA media you keep spewing? I have a paid subscription to The Free Press. I read independent media. Not MSM whom have been lying to the American people for years now. That is why they are losing so much in viewership. So much so, MSNBC is on the For Sale block. I voted for Trump not because of what he said about grocery prices, knowing full well Bidenomics and Bidenflation would take years if not a decade to correct but knowing Trump is better for the nation and possibly the world then another disaster of a Democrat admin. That is a fact.
He won because Kamala Harris is incompetent and is left of Bernie Sanders. She is radical left. People, in general, do not want to blow up this country. Her running mate was weak, incompetent and also a hard left politician. The current President is in sharp cognitive decline and yet, all of his staff (to the public) are saying he’s fine. No, he is not.
The other lesson to learn is that traditional media outlets and TV personalities have been proven to be insignificant. Consumers have bypassed their shows and now the cooking channel gets more views than CNN. Many TV personalities are going to be looking for work very soon.
many people who otherwise would not have voted for him did so because he LIED about immediately bringing down the cost of groceries.
Gigi, did you intend to tell the truth and say “People would not have voted for Bribery Biden if he hadn’t LIED that the Biden Bribery Laptop wasn’t his bagman son’s – and paid off Democrats to lie that it was just “Putin election campaign disinformation”
No, of course. You would NEVER make the mistake of telling the truth. You never miss channeling your crimes, sins, and lack of morality on those you hate and want to destroy.
“he LIED about immediately bringing down the cost of groceries.” How desperate can you get? Trump hasn’t even taken office and he is already a failure! Our trolls are like broken-down comedians repeating the same old jokes. Can’t the DNC hire better writers?
Gig, what the heck are you talking about?!#*
Trump won more than 2.5 MILLION popular votes than Harris.
Trump won electoral vote 312 to 226
Just STOP and go away with your BS will you
Jonathan: Breaking news! NY SC Justice Merchan just ruled that DJT is not entitled to presidential immunity for the 34-count criminal convictions over his hush money payments
@Dennis, why run away to cower and hide from your posts rather than defend them? Even Gigi has a bigger set of balls to defend her lies than you do!
How much are you willing to place on a bet that Judge Merchan, merching his office out just like The Big Guy merched out the VP’s office, is going to have his trial and his multiple decisions thrown on the trash heap of police state fascism’s failed history?
Dennis, if we could extract the brains of both Gigi, George and you and place all three in a matchbox, they’d rattle around in there like BB’s in a boxcar.
Old Airborne Dog
I think these blanket pardons are unnecescary, unwise and ineffective.
Therefore Biden should “Bring them on”
You make the arguments as to why the left thinks they are needed and how the left thinks they will be viewed.
By my perceptions is they will be viewed as an admission of guilt as broad as the pardon’s themselves.
Biden is simply enacting a short circuited “Truth and reconcilliation”
In some form or another – that is what we need to clear the slate.
We need the malfeasance to be brought out into the sunlight.
With the punishment THIS TIME being exposure.
The bad news with Blanket Pardons is the specific misconduct will not be brought to light.
But the good news is that these pardons are an admission of malfeasance,
The broader and vaguer the pardons are the greater the malfeasance people will presume there was.
John Say,
Well said. I know if Biden does some kind of degree of preemptive blanket pardons, I will view it as they are all criminals, guilty of some kind of criminal activity they do not want found out.
Trump cheated his way into office again because so many Americans believed the lie that he would deliver immediate drops in the cost of groceries, and because the narcissist promised “I am your retribution”. His nominee for FBI head has an enemies list –see above. We are in untested waters now–a petty, vindictive criminal who intends to use the powers of the federal government to punish enemies, and a current president who is in the position to try to eliminate the risk of such abuse in advance–he should do it.
@Gigi: Trump cheated his way into office again because so many Americans believed the lie
Gigi, your channeling of Biden White House Crime onto Trump makes you the human equivalent of a used condom serving as a wind sock to show the direction and magnitude of a decade long fecal storm of Democrat lies.
If you didn’t have Democrat lies, you’d have nothing. Which is why the Brown Vagina DEI Hire lost the election for the same reason.
ALSO Gigi:
Biden DID NOT lie his way into office when he said the Biden Bribery Laptop was just “Putin election campaign disinformation”
Biden DID NOT lie his way into office when he said he didn’t know any of his son’s ChiCom and Putin oligarch customers
Biden DID NOT lie his way into office when he said The First Felon Son, Formerly Known As The Bagman Crackhead Kid had done nothing wrong.
Biden DID NOT attempt to lie his way into back into office when he said the Biden Bribery Laptop was just “Putin election campaign disinformation”
Biden DID NOT attempt to lie his way back into office when he said he would never pardon his son.
In the slum vernacular of your fellow slimy crack whores, Gigi: “Your shit is weak”.
Old Airborne Dog
“The [pardon], the whole [pardon], and nothing but the [pardon], so help you God.”
– Sworn Testimony Oath
___________________________
The President has the power to grant any and all pardons, without restriction or limitation, for offenses against the U.S., excepting impeachment.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Article 2, Section 2
The President shall…have Power to grant…Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
It becomes more and more apparent that Joe Biden has not accepted the message that over 70% of Americans think that we are on the wrong track with his administration. He seems perversely bound and determined to destroy what ever good name he may have had. The obscene preemptive pardons are only one of many cases where that is so. Since the individuals who have (or will have) been granted preemptive pardons cannot avail themselves of the 5th Amendment, we should go through some sort of “truth and reconciliation” process. Each of these individuals should be depositioned either by Congress or a district attorney to obtain their full confession for what it was that they violated. Then the truth can be exposed. Reconciliation, through the preemptive pardons, has already occurred. But their names and reputations will be untouched by any granted pardon though not by their exposed deeds.
Come on, man. It is what it is. A presidential pardon bears the fruit of Brandon bucks.
Knowing Biden’s MO, I wonder how much he’s charging for these pardons.
Yowsir!
Wizzing along the Left neither looks to the future or the past in their eternal quest for power. They drove decorum out of the Senate thanks to Senator Reed as an example and made denial of fact the truth within their parties’ platform. They used specious legal interpretations to oppose and convict opponents. Now they want to immunize party apparatchik of untold criminal activities through a supposed Executive right. ‘Hail the King Lives’.
We have had more than enough proof that Biden and his term were the worst ever, certainly over our lifetimes. The vast number of pardons/commutations are whipped cream on that confection. Preemptive pardons for Biden’s Band of Bandits would be the cherry on top.
Honest question: How could one president/administration get essentially everything wrong in four years? Thank heaven it wasn’t 8 years.
I am surprised that you do not share my skepticism about the Constitutionality of “prospective” pardons. I appreciate that the power to issue pardons is unique to the President, but I cannot imagine that one can pardon a crime that has not yet been committed. The founders or whomever created the pardon power never intended that it would be used to condone lawlessness without justice.
Agree. If an offense has not been discovered (let alone charged or indicted), it does not yet exist in the eyes of the law.
The Constitutional absurdity of the “blanket pardon” can be seen simply by renaming it “prospective immunity”, then asking whether that would mean that a president could grant someone immunity from prosecution for all future crimes he might commnt.
IMHO, to claim such a thing would be preposterous, just as a “blanket pardon” is. And, like “prospective immunity”, the idea of “blanket pardons” finds no support anywhere in the Constitution.
Blanket pardons are absolutely constitutional. It’s a rule of constitutional interpretation that anything George Washington did without objection is presumptively constitutional. And he issued blanket pardons.
The founders, the whoevers, most likely never imagined wholesale pardons/commutations, much less preemptive pardons. The current Court, which has little patience with overreach, does, however, find “standing” a difficult hurdle to jump.
The founders never imagined a Donald Trump–someone who brags about grabbing women by their genitals, who simulates fellatio with a microphone, tells stories about a dead golfer’s genitals, a convicted criminal, someone who stole classified documents and lied about returning them, who falsified business records and loan applications, who stole from a charitable foundation, who set up a fraudulent “university” and who started an insurrection. The men who founded this country risked their lives by bucking the power of the British–for what? So a malignant narcissist could bask in the power and glory of the Presidency?
The founders never imagined a Donald Trump–someone who brags about grabbing women by their genitals, who simulates fellatio with a microphone
Gigi, The Framers never imagined a President Biden – an evil Democrat father who forced his daughter to actually perform fellatio on his genitals during Biden Family Daddy-Daughter Inappropriate Incest Showers
The Framers also never imagined the First Amendment would be abused one of Crackhead Kid Biden’s crack whores – a slimy, slandering slunt like you, Gigi
The founders, the whoevers, most likely never imagined wholesale pardons/commutations
They absolutely did. And they made no objection when George Washington did exactly that.
Anonymous, you’re an idiot. Of course no one can pardon a crime that has not yet been committed. NOBODY CLAIMS OTHERWISE. Nobody has ever proposed that Biden issue “prospective” pardons. No one. You have fabricated a straw man out of your own diseased imagination.
Preemptive pardons, on the other hand, are constitutional without any possible scintilla of doubt. There is simply no case to be made against them. They’ve been part of our law since the very beginning of the republic, and part of the common law for centuries before that. So are blanket pardons; George Washington issued those, for crying out loud. And anything Washington did without objection from Congress is presumptively constitutional.
I agree that President Biden did not pardon Hunter for future offenses. His pardon was effective for offenses charged, or not charged, for the past decade. He protected Hunter from prosecution for crimes not yet charged, as well as those he was already found guilty of. Since he pardoned Hunter Biden for offenses committed, but not yet charged, in that case, the pardon was preemptive for crimes already committed but not yet charged, just not for future crimes.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/12/01/statement-from-president-joe-biden-11/
“A Full and Unconditional Pardon
For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.”
I’ve looked, and I can’t see any stipulation in the Constitution on time period for presidential pardons.
Here is the relevant wording:
https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S2-C1-3-1/ALDE_00013316/
“he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.”
The Supreme Court has found that a pardon may be made “at any time after [an offense’s] commission,8 reflecting that the President may not preemptively immunize future criminal conduct.”. I am no legal scholar, and past Supreme Court decisions have been overturned. I do not know if it’s possible for this to be circumvented by some future president, emboldened by President Biden.
It’s interesting how often Democrats talk about “guard rails”, when planning to sabotage a duly elected president, yet they don’t seem interested in having any guard rails themselves.
Interestingly, these Pardon Seekers may actually be shooting themselves in the foot, so to speak.
By accepting a “Pardon”, you are, by implication, indicating that your “pardoned” behaviour was so egregious as to possibly have resulted in a conviction.
Further, accepting the pardon does not provide immunity from future, or continued, investigation, subpoenas and depositions.
It will also disallow your “pleading the 5th”, during any future investigations. The purpose of the 5th Amendment clause is for your protection, preventing you from incriminating yourself. However, the pardon has removed the possibility of an arrest or conviction resulting from your, possibly incriminating, future testimony, when required to respond to those future investigations.
Let’s remember, since you will be required to swear an oath to “speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” and future crimes are NOT immunised under the previously awarded pardon, you may be vulnerable to charges of Perjury, should you then, demonstrably, EVADE SPEAKING THE TRUTH. A Prosecutor, in possession of new evidence proving “The Lie”, may be able to bring charges of perjury and hold you accountable for a “new” crime.
Frankly, depending on how convoluted a web has previously been spun, it may be wiser to stop digging the hole while possible, and hope that President Trump is speaking truthfully when he denies any intention of seeking wholesale retribution against his perceived enemies.