Monday, January 20, 2025

The Final Pardons

With his presidency coming to a close, President Biden slipped in a few more pardons.  There is retired General Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, all the members of Congress who served on the J6 Committee, various DC and US Capitol police, and, of course, three of his siblings and their spouses.  No, nothing to see here, move along.  Unlike his son, who was convicted of crimes and indicted for crimes, these people are not.  What is being pardoned?  The claim will be to prevent Trump from taking revenge on his enemies.  You know, we wouldn't want the president to target political rivals with the power of government, like when President Biden's DOJ went after Trump, Giuliani, Steve Bannon, etc.  This tells us more about the thinking of Biden than the thinking of Trump, because Biden already did what he thinks Trump might do.

Generally, accepting a pardon is equated with admitting guilt.  What exactly would each of these folks be admitting?  For what crimes could Trump's DOJ pursue them?  Milley should have been fired for the Afghanistan debacle, but that isn't criminal.  His backdoor chats with the Chinese during the interregnum were a sore spot with Trump, who called it treason, but is that worthy of pursuing now that tempers have calmed?  Rand Paul has been particularly active against Dr. Fauci, indicating that he lied to Congress and participated in illegal gain-of-function research.  Is he someone Trump would pursue or is Fauci being protected from Senator Paul now that the control has shifted to Republicans?  Now the J6 Committee is an interesting one.  Once the tapes were released in 2023, a different picture of the 'insurrection' was painted.  The Q-Anon Shaman was escorted to the Senate chambers by the Capitol Police!  Was the committee impartial or did it cherry pick the evidence to reveal while hiding mitigating facts?  Did it do anything criminal?  Biden must think there could be something there or why the pardons?  As far as the pardons for his family, that is doubtless for the same shenanigans that surrounded Hunter.

These create a bad precedent.  Pardons should be for specific crimes, not a shield against any future prosecution.  When Jimmy Carter issued a pardon for all the draft dodgers, it was for evading the draft.  It did not pardon them for assault, murder, fraud, etc.  A specific crime was pardoned.  The Constitution states:
 
...he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Providing a pardon without the crime is a case of putting the cart before the horse.

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