Unpresidential Pardons

January 21, 2025

By Jim Towey

As news days go, the inauguration of a U.S. president ranks right up near the top. The pageantry and traditions, the Marine Corps band’s patriotic music, the canon blasts echoing throughout the Capitol grounds, America’s political leadership displaying national unity, and the swearing-in ceremony and inaugural address themselves, all make for a huge story.

The day should have belonged to Donald Trump. But Joe Biden did not go gently into that good night. He decided to leave high office with his guns blazing. He already had spent the last months of his presidency taking dramatic steps, banning offshore oil drilling, emptying the federal prison system’s death row, and passing out presidential pardons like Skittles (including a sweet one to his son, Hunter).

Biden pardons

But Biden saved his most controversial pardons for Trump’s big day.  These weren’t “get out of jail free” cards like the ones in the board game Monopoly. No, these were, “You’re above the law” cards. Biden issued pre-emptive pardons to former administration officials like Covid czar Dr. Anthony Fauci; some former or current members of Congress and their staffs; and most shamelessly, to his sister, two brothers and their spouses.

Biden was Michael Corleone on baptism day, walking into the Rotunda while his surrogates secretly dispensed justice and absolved his family, 22 minutes before the clock expired on his presidency.

Trump pardons

Trump continued the pardoning spree later in the day by commuting the sentences of about a dozen January 6 defendants while pardoning nearly all the others previously sentenced.  Biden and Trump stated their justifications and cited “exceptional circumstances,” and the American people will draw their own conclusions. I have a hard time believing that our founders intended such excess in the exercise of the power to pardon.

Is there a moral equivalence between the actions of the two presidents? I don’t think so. Not all pardons are created equal; Biden’s are far worse. He declared a class of Americans, including his family, above the law, never to face prosecution for anything they did during the lasts 10 years. That is staggering.  Who made him king?

Dangerous precedent

Think about the dangerous precedent Biden just set. What is to keep the current or future commander-in-chief from charging his incoming administration officials with a mandate to do whatever it takes to get the president’s policies adopted. Lie to Congress? Destroy records? No problem. The Biden doctrine is that if you stay loyal to the chief, you get a blanket pardon at the end. Finding “exceptional circumstances” to justify pre-emptive pardons will be no problem. And it seems family members, too, can rest assured the law won’t apply to them if they decide to grift and grub for money. They, too, can act with impunity and immunity. Is this the legacy Joe Biden wants?

The abuse of presidential pardon authority is a problem demanding a remedy. The other co-equal branches of our government must respond to what just occurred. It is hard to imagine that Congress or the courts won’t feel public pressure to act so that this can’t happen again.  Not in America.

Coming soon…

Meanwhile, get ready for the tell-all book, the behind-the-scenes account, of how First Lady Jill Biden, John “Green is Good” Kerry, Susan Rice, Ron Klain, Steve Richetti and other Biden operatives ruled from the shadows. The details of the coverup of the president’s cognitive decline, too, will make for a best seller.   

Now all eyes are where Trump wants them – on him. Which Donald Trump will govern the next four years? Will it be the statesman we saw in the Rotunda? Or the man who derided his political enemies moments afterwards?

Message to President Trump: You are our leader now and every word you say matters. The campaign is over. Leave the stump speech material behind, including your January 6 talking points. No one in America is thinking about Liz Cheney, and you shouldn’t either. Set your sights on higher things, on the major challenges facing our country and world. We need you to succeed. We will pray for you. And don’t forget America’s senior citizens. They need to hear that they matter to you and your administration.

Our better angels

One can hope that Trump’s better angels will prevail. He may have heard the flutter of their wings when he dodged a bullet on his way back to the Oval Office. That memory should help him stay focused on national priorities and not personal vendettas. America needs leadership that is steady, not petty. The world is wobbly. He is positioned to be the transformative, forever-memorialized president he desires.  

We shall see whether Donald Trump ushers in a golden age or a gilded age.

(The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Aging with Dignity and/or its Board of Directors.)