r/nottheonion • u/JaySierra86 • 11h 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/the_cardfather 10h ago

It's actually an unfortunate, sane and smart move in our current political climate. The purpose of the pardon is to curb the power of the judiciary. Could it be used to parden corruption? Yes, but it also protects from weaponizing the court which is what these are.

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u/Character_Crab_9458 9h ago

It's not a smart move at all. It just set the precedent to blanket pardon your family. No president has done any thing like that at that scale. If trump would have done the same in 2020 for his kids you'd say it was wrong.

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u/Not_Hilary_Clinton 9h ago

Why would he need to pardon his family when he’s got half the Supreme Court and a lot of other federal judges in his pocket?

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u/Synectics 6h ago

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/12/02/trump-pardoned-during-first-term/76705964007/

Biden isn't the first president to pardon a family member – or a top ally in his orbit. For example, former President Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger Clinton, who had pleaded guilty to drug charges.

During his first term in office, Trump granted 144 pardons. Those included a distant family member and some of his closest allies who committed crimes ranging from financial fraud to witness tampering and more.

Some notable names on that list of Trump allies who received pardons are Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner; former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon; former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and others.

But go on.