Quotes
As he was coming into office in 2020, he talked about the idea of Trump pardoning his family and said that it would send a bad message,
the former Biden official said, adding
It was a disappointing move, ... I was disappointed in it. I think he has spoken so eloquently about the need to preserve the rule of law."
she said, addingAnd I think it’s hard to argue that it didn’t yesterday. I will be totally candid. I think it was disappointing,
she saidI also think you have to recognize that we are now in a Trump 2.0 era where Trump has been very clear that he intends to use the long arm of the government to go after his political enemies, and I can understand why Joe Biden might look at his family and say, ‘I’m going to do everything in my power to protect them on the way out the door,
she saidWell, it concerns me in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of laws and justice, ... you’re not going to see in our administration that kind of approach to pardons."
Biden told Tapper, later addingThere’s not much risk to Trump in attempting to grant such a blanket pardon. He might issue a sweepingly broad pardon — say, giving Jared Kushner a pass on any federal crimes committed from the moment of his birth until the moment the pardon was issued — with the understanding that, should someone seek to prosecute Kushner, they would have to persuade a court to let them do so,
Bump wrote.jpg)
If you had to build a 2020 time capsule in advance, this is probably something that you would have invented to put into the 2020 time capsule,
MSNBC star Rachel Maddow told viewers with a grin while holding up a copy of the Times reportPresident Trump has discussed possibility of pardons for family members, ... One source said the conversations in recent days were within the context of a president who feels embattled, and not because Trump believes he or any of his family members had done anything illegal."
NBC News ran the headline ... telling readers.jpg)
The idea of a kind of prospective pardon, this sort of permanent federal Get Out of Jail Free card, That seems to be what we're talking about in the case of this, right
Maddow's MSNBC colleague Chris Hayes said
I certainly would view it that way,
Schiff told BlitzerIn our politics lead now, a source tells CNN that President Trump, the outgoing president, is discussing preemptive pardons for people close to him. That could include his three eldest children, Don jr. Ivanka and Eric, his son in law, Jared Kushner and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, none of whom, as of this afternoon, have been even charged with. much less convicted of any crime,
CNN's Jake Tapper said on air_(1).jpg)
Have you ever heard of somebody getting a preemptive pardon who was innocent of all crime, who's just an innocent person? Have you ever heard of that, just somebody getting a blanket pardon and they're an innocent person?"
MSNBC's Joy Reid askedHow much protection can Trump offer his family with his pardon power? A lot."
Washington Post columnist Philip Bump posed a similar question and answerWould you see that… as essentially an admission of guilty?"
CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked in a separate interview_(cropped).jpg)
I appreciate the president reaching out and trying to protect me from baseless accusations,
Fauci said
We have been pardoned today not for breaking the law but for upholding it,
they said in a statementI guess now I have precedent to do it,
Trump saidDid you know that Biden, while I was making my speech, pardoned his whole family?”
Trump said
The fact is that Trump has been saying this for a long time. That doesn‘t explain why in the last 10 minutes of your presidency you slip a release out there, it just made the whole thing look tawdry,
Axelrod saidRather than accept accountability, those who perpetrated the January 6th attack have taken every opportunity to undermine and intimidate those who participated in the Select Committee in an attempt to rewrite history, erase the stain of January 6th for partisan gain, and seek revenge, including by threatening criminal prosecutions.”
The statement continued