WASHINGTON − It was a sweeping and momentous use of the presidential pardoning power. Reactions from across the aisle ensued almost immediately.
Then it happened again on Monday. With distinct, yet equally striking, political reverberations.
In the final hours of his tenure, outgoing President Joe Biden issued a series of pardons, including some preemptive clemency for unspecified crimes. Among the recipients were former Rep. Liz Cheney; Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and several members of Biden’s own family.
President Donald Trump, following his inauguration Monday, called the move “unfortunate.”
However, later that day, Trump wielded his own pardoning powers to extend clemency to nearly 1,600 people, or almost everyone charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
His move, like Biden’s, drew sharp backlash. Yet some Democrats say their capacity for criticism was somewhat deflated by their former leader’s decision.
“We need to make a critique of some of the more unjust pardons, like the January 6 pardons,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. “And I think it’s harder to make that critique, to stand on the high ground and make a critique of the Trump pardons on January 6 when President Biden is pardoning family members.”
“Bad precedents were set by both presidents yesterday,” Nick Penniman, founder and CEO of Issue One, a democracy reform group, said in a statement Tuesday.
“Trump just signaled that violence in pursuit of constitutional subversion will be forgiven. And Biden is establishing the notion that family members of the president can be prophylactically protected from misdeeds,” Penniman said. “What if President Trump decides to do the same for his family members? Imagine how they could illegally monetize his time in the White House.”
Republicans in Congress are standing behind their criticism of Biden − and leaning into it as an alternative to commenting on the president’s controversial choice to pardon people who broke into their workplace.
“Are you asking these questions of Biden?” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., replied when reporters pressed him for his reaction to Trump’s pardons.
“(Trump) told us he would pardon the Jan. 6 protestors,” Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told reporters Tuesday. “That was well known when he campaigned for the job. He won the popular vote; he won a mandate. And I fully support him in doing that.”
Before he took office:Donald Trump’s pledge of ‘major pardons’ for Jan. 6 defendants had allies, critics on edge
“What’s a disgrace is Liz Cheney abused her power,” Banks continued. “Liz Cheney should be held accountable for abusing the power that she had as a member of Congress, and Joe Biden gave her a blanket pardon knowing that she was guilty. She should be held accountable for that. It’s a disgrace that she won’t be.”
Cheney served as vice chair of the House select committee investigating Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has argued that she and others on the committee should “go to jail” for allegedly sitting on evidence related to the insurrection. Cheney and committee Chair Bennie Thompson, who was also pardoned by Biden, say they have been the targets of threats and harassment.
“We have been pardoned today not for breaking the law, but for upholding it,” the former committee leaders said in a statement Monday.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, fellow member of the committee and another name on Biden’s preemptive pardon list, argued there was a distinction between what the two presidents did.
“Look, the people who were pardoned this morning were pardoned because we were innocent,” Raskin told CNN Monday, on the heels of Trump’s decision to grant Jan. 6 protestors clemency.
“Why were they being pardoned? That’s my question. In other words, were they innocent? Nobody’s asserting that,” Raskin said. “Or were they being pardoned simply because they were the willing political soldier for Donald Trump when he incited an insurrection against the government?”
Banks, the Indiana Republican, was tapped in 2021 by then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to be on the Jan. 6 committee, but his nomination, along with that of Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was vetoed by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The Indiana Republican had voted against certifying Biden’s 2020 presidential election win.
“The Bidens are the most corrupt family ever to live in the White House,” Banks said. “Blanket pardons for his family? And you guys are focused on Donald Trump doing the things that he said he was going to do, that he got elected to do? Give me a break.”
Contributing: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY
