The White House seeks to immunize officials and elected officials against “prosecutions by the Trump administration”

Senior aides to outgoing US President Joe Biden have engaged in internal discussions about whether to preemptively pardon a group of current and former public officials who may become a target for President-elect Donald Trump upon his return to the White House, according to senior Democrats familiar with the discussions. .

Biden’s aides are deeply concerned about a group of current and former officials who may find themselves facing investigations or indictments, a sense of unease that has accelerated since Trump announced last weekend the appointment of Kash Patel to lead the FBI, with the latter publicly vowing to go after Trump’s critics.

However, White House officials are carefully considering the unusual step of granting blanket pardons to those who committed no crimes. The deliberations include pardoning those who currently hold their positions, such as elected and appointed officials, as well as former officials who angered Trump and his loyalists.

Among those who may face impeachment by the incoming administration are Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.

Trump said that Cheney “should go to prison with the rest of her committee members,” and Biden’s aides mentioned pardoning Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who became a source of right-wing criticism during the “Corona” pandemic.

The discussions were overseen by White House counsel Ed Siskel and included a group of other aides, including Chief of Staff Jeff Zients. But the president himself, who has been keenly focused on a pardon for his son, has not yet been included in the broader pardon discussions, according to people familiar with the deliberations.

It appears that Trump’s repeated threats were an incentive for senior officials in the White House to discuss the issue. “The beneficiaries don’t know anything about it,” one Democrat familiar with the matter said of those who might receive clemency.

But the final decision rests with Biden, and it may have the same consequences for some of the country’s most prominent public officials, such as his choice to pardon his son. A White House spokesman declined to comment on the discussions, but did not deny them.

The fact that talks are already underway reflects growing concern among high-ranking Democrats about the extent of Trump’s “retaliation” once he regains power. The 11-year duration of Biden’s pardon for his son Hunter demonstrated the extent of the White House’s concern about the Trump administration exploiting any potential opportunities to prosecute opponents. About “Politico”

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“Legal vaccination”

Pardons at the end of a presidential term are usually fraught with political risks, and George H.W. Bush’s intervention to spare former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger from legal problems, and Bill Clinton’s pardon of financier and donor Marc Rich, seem strange compared to what President Joe Biden’s officials are doing with Donald Trump’s return to office. Presidency, with plans to put his opponents on trial.

Now Biden’s aides, too, must consider whether they should offer the same “legal vaccination” to public officials who have angered Trump or his supporters, and that the president gave to his convicted son, Hunter.

. White House officials are carefully considering granting blanket pardons to those who committed no crimes.