#Biden’s staff is debating whether he should issue blanket #pardons for a swath of #Trump’s perceived enemies to protect them from the “retribution” he has threatened after he takes office….

The idea would be to pre-emptively extend executive clemency to a list of current & former government officials for any possible *crimes* over a period of years, effectively short-circuiting the next president’s promised campaign of reprisals.

#law #democracy #USpol

White House officials do not believe the potential recipients have actually committed crimes, but they have grown increasingly worried that #Trump’s selections for top #DOJ positions indicate that he will follow through on his repeated vows to seek #revenge. Even an investigation that results in no charges could drag on for months or years, costing those people hundreds of thousands of dollars in #legal fees & crippling their career prospects.

#law #democracy #USpol

The discussion of blanket #pardons, reported earlier by Politico, remains primarily at a staff level although #POTUS #Biden has talked about it with senior members of the team…. It comes after Biden pardoned his son Hunter to spare him from prison on gun & tax charges. The White House declined to comment on Thursday.

#law #democracy #USpol
politico.com/news/magazine/202…

…Never before has a #POTUS issued mass #pardons of govt ofcls for fear a successor would seek to prosecute them out of…vindictiveness.

But the choices of #PamBondi, fmr FL AG & #Trump surrogate, to run #DOJ & #KashPatel, fmr Trump aide & #FarRight provocateur, to be director of the #FBI have put the issue front & center. Patel has vowed to “come after” Trump’s critics & even published a list of ~60 people he considered “members of the executive branch deep state” as the appendix to a 2023 book.