Oh dear! True enough, in the closing minutes of his presidency, Biden had granted blanket pardons to his siblings, James, Valerie and Francis, various spouses and uncle Tom Cobley, but left himself off the list. Donald Trump was incredulous in his first interview as president on Fox News. “The funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn’t give himself a pardon,” Trump told interviewer Sean Hannity.
Strictly speaking, Trump won the election, not his court cases. But he won in the highest court of the land in front of a jury of American voters. “I did it the hard way,” Trump added. “It’s really hard to say they shouldn’t go through it too.”
Trump did not seek to prosecute Hillary Clinton, his 2016 opponent, despite leading chants of “lock her up”. Moreover, Robert Hur, the special counsel who investigated Biden for stashing classified documents in his garage, concluded Biden was unfit to stand trial as “an elderly man with a poor memory”.
Fearing for their future, grandees such as Anthony Fauci, the Covid-19 tsar; General Mark Milley, who called Trump a “total fascist”; Liz Cheney; and other members of the 6 January committee that investigated the Capitol riot; were pardoned along with Biden’s family members.
Although being in Trump’s crosshairs would be frightening and costly, I would have liked to see Cheney and the others face down any legal threats, instead of accepting pardons without admitting any offences. They did nothing wrong, in my book, and would have won in court if any cases were brought.
In any case, they could still face being dragged before a vengeful Republican Congress to answer for their conduct. “Because they got a pardon,” Trump gloated, “they can’t take the fifth” (the right to remain silent).
Ultimately, his children were witnesses rather than defendants in the New York fraud case brought against the Trump Organisation, but 18 alleged “co-conspirators” were charged with Trump in Georgia for conspiracy to overturn the election. They could have easily faced federal charges as well.
What Donald Trump's pardons really mean
Read MoreBut it is unsettling to see Democrats make feeble excuses for Biden. Others have made no secret of their disappointment that he has given the green light to Trump to behave with impunity in office and then pardon all those who followed his orders.
There is now no brake on the enrichment of the Trump family, which continues apace, with the $Trump cryptocurrency “meme” coin (and a separate one for Melania). Barron is launching a property empire, Eric is building Trump Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Don Jr has joined a venture capital firm. They all want to become as wealthy as Jared and Ivanka.
Sarah Baxter is director of the Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting
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