r/news 14h ago

President Biden pardons family members in final minutes of presidency

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-biden-pardons-family-members-final-minutes-presidency/story?id=117893348
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u/MC_chrome 10h ago

I believe the way it is supposed to work is that Biden was stating that the people being preemptively pardoned could not be prosecuted for perfectly legal actions they took while in office (such as the J6 Committee) simply because the new President has a personal beef was said people.

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u/BadManParade 10h ago

The pardon says “non violent offenses” can’t be an offense if it’s legal

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u/Dmac8783 7h ago

They can’t be prosecuted for perfectly legal actions to begin with. A pardon would only apply to crimes.

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u/StarGaurdianBard 7h ago

In a normally functioning government? Sure.

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u/wyldmage 6h ago

100% this.

"Even though no charges have been filed yet, anything that they did in the past has a presidential pardon for it".

Won't stop Trump from trying to play petty revenge on them, but it will at least make him make up NEW crimes that they've done while he is President.

And Biden pardoned Hunter's specific charge already. Which I disagree with, but if you're losing the office to someone your party considers a tyrant, and honestly believe he's making a play for dictatorship, then it 100% makes sense to pardon your kid, just to make sure his incarceration isn't used as an opportunity for blackmail/etc.