Why Biden’s pardons sum up the 'failure and tragedy' of his presidency

By Michaela Walters (with Emily Maitlis & Lewis Goodall)

As power changes hands in Washington, the outgoing and incoming presidents have both issued pardons of very different kinds. But will Biden’s final move leave the Democrats accused of double standards?

Read time: 3-4 minutes

In brief:

• In his final minutes as president, Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons to several family members and key public servants including Dr. Fauci and Jan 6th committee members, claiming the move is to protect them from potential persecution by the incoming Trump administration.
• Trump, upon taking office as the 47th president, pardoned approximately 1,500 people involved in the January 6th riot, whom he referred to as "hostages."
• The News Agents say Biden's pardons "stink," arguing that while they understand his fear of Trump's threats, the move undermines democratic institutions and leaves Democrats unable to criticise Trump's pardons without appearing hypocritical.

What’s the story?

As America’s most prominent politicians gathered at the US Capitol to see Donald Trump sworn in as the 47th President of the United States of America, another sinister story lurked in the background amidst the splendor – or the circus, depending who you ask – of the inauguration.

In his final act as president, with minutes left in power, Joe Biden announced that he had preemptively issued blanket pardons to five members of his family, including his brothers James and Frank Biden, his sister Valerie and their spouses.

The move showed “a real sense of fear”, Emily Maitlis says. “He buried bad news by sliding this out in the 10 minutes where he thought nobody was looking.”

The outgoing president was protecting his family from what he called "unrelenting attacks" from the incoming one.

"Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end," Biden said.

"The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgement that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offence."

Hours earlier, he also issued pardons to public servants who had played key roles during his presidency, in an attempt to protect them from possible future prosecution after they received threats from Trump and his allies.

One recipient was Dr Anthony Fauci, famed for coordinating the US response to Covid-19. He got on the wrong side of Trump for refusing to back the then-president’s unfounded claims about the virus. Trump has previously posted a photo of Fauci in an orange jumpsuit, behind bars, on social media alongside the caption “How to actually fix the system.”

Other pardons went to members of the House Select Committee, including Liz Cheney, that investigated the 6 January riot, as well as their staff and the officers who testified.

In December Trump backed a call for the FBI to investigate Cheney for her role in leading Congress’s probe into the 6 January riot.

Cheney and vice-chair of the committee, Democrat Bennie Thompson, both thanked Biden for the pardons.

“We have been pardoned today not for breaking the law but for uploading it,” they said in a joint statement.

Somewhat ironically, as Biden was pardoning those who sought justice for the 6 Jan riots, Trump was making good on his campaign promise by pardoning those involved in the attack. On Monday night he issued pardons for approximately 1,500 people involved, who he referred to as “hostages.”

“We've got one president leaving office pardoning people for crimes they haven't committed, and a new president coming in, pardoning people for crimes they definitely have,” Lewis Goodall observes.

How will history judge Joe Biden?

What’s The News Agents’ take?

Pardoning members of his family for crimes they haven’t committed is a “slightly clumsy move by Biden,” Emily says.

While Lewis goes further, saying “it stinks.”

But it can be both true that the move was terrible, yet necessary.

Trump has spoken repeatedly about going after his “enemies.” He’s been specific in his desire to lock up Cheney and other staffers who legitimately brought cases against him, and there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t do it.

“When he threatens them with imprisonment, is he serious or not? I guess Joe Biden is thinking, ‘I don't want to risk this,’” Emily says.

“Biden has no reason to believe that Trump will stick to the rule of law… he doesn't know he's not going to go after members of his family, he might.”

While Lewis is “sympathetic” to that argument, he says the move ultimately sums up the “failure” and the “tragedy” of the Biden presidency.

“His principal task was to stop Trump's taking over and save democracy; reaffirm the institutions, reaffirm the rule of law, and he's undermined the whole thing.”

“Because of his failure, he leaves office, let's just say, for the sake of argument, obliged to do this thing precisely because he has failed, and therefore setting a dangerous precedent in the future, where presidents will just come along and pardon whoever they like with impunity.”

Emily agrees that issuing the pardons leaves the Democrats “without a leg to stand on,” as MAGA supporters will accuse them of being hypocritical if they complain about the pardons for 6 January rioters.

“I think that's the worst thing. The Democrats everywhere are screaming a silent scream, because they can see exactly why Joe Biden has been pushed to this place. But it makes life really hard for them, because we will see pardons that are probably not justified in the coming days, and they won't be able to say anything.”

On the other hand, if Biden hadn’t issued pardons for those trying to hold people accountable for 6 January, there would still be double standards of a different kind.

“Why would you expect one political party to behave like martyrs and the other political party to get away with an attempted insurrection and behave like complete scoundrels?

“Then you've got double standards anyway.”

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents.

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