Barron Trump caused quite a stir at his father’s inauguration in the Capitol rotunda by approaching Joe Biden respectfully and shaking his hand. A class act, some murmured appreciatively. But what did he whisper? Internet jokesters soon had their answer: “You forgot to pardon yourself.”
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.
Was this a threat to come after his predecessor? It sounded that way. Trump is bitter about his own experience of what he calls “lawfare” under the Democrats. “I went through four years of hell by this scum that we had to deal with,” he said. “I spent millions of dollars of legal fees and I won.”
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.”
Whether he does wreak revenge on his predecessor is moot. In his inaugural address, Trump promised the state would “never again” weaponise justice to persecute political opponents, but his definition may be elastic.
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”.
Clearly, though, the Biden pardons rankle. Trump banged on about them for so long that Hannity had to beg him to “let me get to the economy… I’m running out of time.”
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.
Trump’s pick of Kash Patel to lead the FBI had stirred panic in their camp. Patel is something of a retribution maniac with his own enemies list. Even Trump describes him as “kind of crazy”.
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.
There is something furtive about accepting a pre-emptive pardon. They could have taken a leaf out of the “Maga granny’s” book. Pam Hemphill turned down Trump’s offer to pardon her along with 1,500 other 6 January prisoners for her role in the riot. “Accepting a pardon would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law and, of course, our nation,” she said.
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).
Biden’s ill-advised conduct has set a terrible precedent. It stands in contrast to Trump’s behaviour when he left office in 2020. Trump toyed with pre-emptively pardoning himself, as well as members of his family and inner circle, but declined to do so even though they ended up in court.
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 MoreRudy Giuliani, who attended Trump’s inauguration, has been bankrupted for defaming election workers. Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon were jailed for four months for refusing to testify to the 6 January committee. As the authors of their own misfortune, I don’t feel sorry for them.
But 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.
The pardons for Biden’s own family members suggests, whether justified or not, there may be more to the label of the “Biden crime family” than mere Republican propaganda.
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.
Who’s going to stop them? Not the Democrats.
Sarah Baxter is director of the Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting
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