Close advisers of US President Joe Biden are reportedly discussing whether it would be possible to preemptively grant pardons to current and former public officials who could be the target of attacks by the incoming administration of Republican Donald Trump. White House officials are also considering what kind of signal such pardons would send to the public, Reuters reported on Friday, citing informed sources, reports TASR.
Biden knows about these discussions, but does not participate in them, specified one of the high-ranking representatives of the White House. However, the decision on this matter will be up to Biden. Discussions on the issue intensified after Biden pardoned his son Hunter last Sunday, despite previously saying he would not.
Among other things, people in the Biden administration were worried about the nomination of Kash Patel to be the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Patel is known for having once promised retribution to critics of the newly elected president.
Among the candidates for a possible presidential pardon are former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, who is a major critic of Trump, Anthony Fauci, who helped coordinate the response of the Biden administration to the pandemic caused by the disease COVID-19, California senator Adam Schiff, who initiated the first attempt at constitutional impeachment on Trump, or retired general Mark Milley, former chairman of the US Army Joint Chiefs of Staff, the source said.
“The question now is whether these people are even interested in being pardoned,” added one of the sources.
The spokeswoman of the White House refused to comment on these media reports. The website Politico was the first to come up with them. Reuters noted that the US Constitution gives the president broad powers to grant pardons, but preemptive pardons – for crimes for which no charges have yet been filed – are largely an untested practice.
