As President Joe Biden approaches his final days in office, he’s still grappling with some important decisions. One of the big questions on his mind: whether or not to issue pardons, especially for individuals who’ve been criticized or threatened by President-elect Donald Trump.
Speaking from the White House, Biden told reporters that his team is paying close attention to what Trump and his allies are saying about their political opponents. “It depends on what kind of language and expectations Trump has been broadcasting in the past few days,” Biden explained. “The idea that he would punish people just because they don’t align with his views? That’s outrageous.”
Biden, who has just 10 days left in office, has been focused on restoring norms that were disrupted by Trump’s time in office. But the idea of issuing pardons for Trump’s critics—whether real or imagined—would push the presidential powers in ways never seen before.
Trump has often targeted figures like Republican Liz Cheney and Democrat Bennie Thompson, who were part of the House committee investigating the January 6th Capitol insurrection. He’s also made his disdain for special counsel Jack Smith clear, especially after Smith charged Trump over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
As for Biden, who Trump has publicly suggested should be jailed, the President laughed off the notion of pardoning himself. “What would I pardon myself for?” he said, visibly incredulous. “No, I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m not even thinking about pardoning myself.”
One person who doesn’t support the idea of pardons is former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger. He was also on the House committee that looked into the Capitol insurrection and dismissed the idea of a Biden pardon. “If you take a pardon, it looks like you’re guilty of something,” Kinzinger said. “But I’m not guilty of anything. I’m just guilty of telling the truth.”
In addition to pardons, Biden took issue with Meta’s decision to end fact-checking on Facebook, calling it “really shameful.” He said that the move was “contrary to American justice.” Meta has replaced third-party fact-checkers with “community notes,” a change that aligns more closely with the style of Elon Musk’s social platform X. This comes just days after the fourth anniversary of Facebook banning Trump from its platform.
Biden added, “You think it doesn’t matter when false things are allowed to spread? Millions of people see them. That’s not what America stands for. We want to tell the truth.”
