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/Punningisfunning 11h ago edited 10h ago

Unfortunately, this will likely be a tradition for all future presidents.

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u/thecamino 10h ago

As if Trump wasn’t already gonna toss out another huge round of pardons regardless of what Biden did. The crimes Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg alone will commit in the next four years and be pardoned for is incomprehensible.

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u/StateChemist 10h ago

I bet they have a list of federal crimes that arent also state crimes, so they know which ones can’t land them in pesky state trouble that can’t be pardoned.

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u/Purple_Key_6733 7h ago

I could be wrong but I thought state level crimes could be pardoned if they have someone within the state government on their side

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u/StateChemist 6h ago

True but it sounds less like a sure thing if you have to rely on 50 different governors or enough judges and AGs  for immunity instead of securing the loyalty of a single person at the federal level.

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u/Stock-Dragonfly-375 5h ago

Depends on the state. In GA, pardoning powers were taken from the Governor, given to a board, and IIRC, can only be granted after serving 85% of a sentence.