Democrats and corporate media figures were highly critical about pardons being issued preemptively prior to the end of President Donald Trump’s first term.
Former President Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons to Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, members of the January 6 House Select Committee and members of his family on the last day of his term of office. One prominent critic of the concept of preemptive pardons during Trump’s first term was then-Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, who was one of the committee members to whom Biden granted clemency on Monday.
“Have you ever heard of somebody getting a preemptive pardon who was innocent of all crime, who’s just an innocent person? Have you ever heard of that? Just somebody getting a blanket pardon and they’re an innocent person.” MSNBC host Joy Reid asked Schiff in 2020, who responded, “No, it’s the president’s own family. It’s people that have been covering up for the president in addition to his own family.”
Later in the video, when asked by CNN host Wolf Blitzer if accepting the pardons would be viewed as an “admission of guilt,” Schiff answered in the affirmative.
“I certainly would view it that way. I think millions of Americans would view it that way,” Schiff replied at the time. “If there was no belief in criminality, why would he think a pardon was necessary?”
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Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann echoed similar sentiments in an appearance with MSNBC host Brian Williams.
“Is there an innocent explanation for someone to seek preemptive pardons for family members? Would you do that if you knew you were innocent and just worried about outside forces?” Williams asked.
“The answer to that is going to be no,” Weissmann responded. “If you haven’t done anything wrong, you sit there and go, what do you need a preemptive pardon for?”
Elie Mystal, a frequent guest on MSNBC, hinted that state and local prosecutors were a backstop against pardons from Trump.
“We have Tish James. We have Xavier Becerra. Mimi Roca is literally my PA in my town,” Mystal told “Morning Joy” guest host Jason Johnson. “There — there will be opportunities to prosecute these people, regardless if they — if they abuse the pardon power as they are thinking.”
“Hopefully, Elie, there will be a skyfall on this entire crime family, and there will be another day for them to die,” Johnson said.
During his last term, Trump considered preemptively pardoning his children as well as former Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York City in the wake of his efforts to contest the 2020 election.
Trump himself was later indicted by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over his efforts to contest the 2020 election results in Georgia, while Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg also indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records and secured a conviction against him from a Manhattan jury.
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