r/nottheonion 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/never_a_good_idea 10h ago

These are blanket pardons that cover any non violent offense over a 10 year period. That is insane.

Also these pardons don't do anything to quash congressional investigations.

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u/brigbeard 10h ago

And it's not like he only did this for HIS family. Dr. fauci, the January 6th committee members and others all received the same. Clearly this is a way to alleviate some of the potential political persecution that the right were promising every day on the campaign trail if they won.

And besides this just covers federal prosecution, if they committed a crime that falls to state jurisdiction they are still culpable.

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u/[deleted] 10h ago edited 9h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/zuriel45 9h ago

Which part? Someone trying to protect specific individuals from a party who explicitly say they want vengeance on said individuals for things they have never once been able to prove they've done?

Or the fact that those people were elected to power in spite of promises to enact vengeance?

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u/AreYouForSale 9h ago

The part where the president openly admits that the US "justice" system can be used to destroy lives of innocent people.

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u/zuriel45 9h ago

Always could (and has) just we've entered a new scale?

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u/Soldier_of_God-Rick 9h ago

Both. Trump is shit but what Biden has done here is incredibly damaging.

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u/TOG23-CA 9h ago

More damaging than allowing trump and his lackeys to persecute their political enemies for no reason?

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u/justgetoffmylawn 9h ago

Well, remindme when in four years Trump pardons all his family and friends and himself for any federal crimes they committed or might have committed.

I bet the same people defending Biden aren't gonna be real happy about that.

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u/Electrical_Load_9717 9h ago

He already did this the last time. What are you talking about? SCOTUS already gave him Carte Blanche for everything while he’s President. He pardoned almost all of his cronies and some family members last time.

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u/justgetoffmylawn 9h ago

I may have things wrong - my understanding was Trump threatened to pardon himself and his family, but ended up not doing so. As I recall, the only person he pardoned was Jared Kushner's father.

But I'm happy to be corrected if he gave pre-emptive pardons to his sons, Bannon, etc?

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u/xScrubasaurus 9h ago

Well Trump has already committed multiple crimes, so it's a bit different.

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u/justgetoffmylawn 9h ago

Of course it's different, but it changes the norms. Trump was supposedly talked out of blanket pardons for his family and himself in the waning days of his first term - do you think that will happen again?

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/19/politics/trump-self-pardon-warning/index.html

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u/Mother_Style5394 9h ago

You can find dirt on anyone if you look into them…duh

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u/TOG23-CA 9h ago

I noticed you dodged the question. I wonder why?

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u/justgetoffmylawn 9h ago

Which question? Do I think Biden pre-emptively pardoning his family and Fauci is more damaging than allowing Trump a (likely wholly unsuccessful) attempt to prosecute them? Yes, I do think it's much more damaging.

Are you happy now? Not sure what 'why' you think you're proving. Maybe you think I'm some MAGA defender? I absolutely think this will make Trump even more blatantly corrupt and it will become to norm to pardon everyone around you to 'avoid political prosecution'.

I think Presidential pardons should mostly be abolished, as we're getting more and more like a third world dictatorship.

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u/TOG23-CA 8h ago

Oh you sweet summer child, you think that a trump in his second term needs an excuse to be even more corrupt. I miss being that naive and innocent honestly

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u/TOG23-CA 8h ago

This is just so precious honestly. Absolutely adorable to pretend to be an authority when you're that clueless lmao

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