Trump sure sounds like he wants to prosecute Biden
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Two weeks after Election Day 2016, Donald Trump made big news by suggesting that he didn’t really want to see Hillary Clinton prosecuted. This despite him having told Clinton to her face that if he were president, “You’d be in jail.” It was taken as a sign that his talk about siccing investigators on his foes — a violation of long-standing norms — was all so much campaign bluster.
It wasn’t. In fact, Trump not only proceeded to talk about investigations of various political opponents, but we gradually learned he actually did things to try to make them happen — albeit unsuccessfully. That was true of Clinton, former secretary of state John F. Kerry and former top FBI officials James B. Comey and Andrew McCabe.
Given all of that — and given that now-President Trump seemingly has even more motivation to target his foes now after his indictments — one of the biggest questions of his presidency is how much he intends to do it again.
It sure sounds like he might go right to the top.
Trump gave the first interview of his second term Wednesday to a familiar ally: Fox News host Sean Hannity. And Trump suggestively spoke — repeatedly — about the fact that former president Joe Biden had preemptively pardoned family members and House Jan. 6 committee figures, but not himself.
Now, let’s make clear from the outset that, despite many accusations and years of investigation by House Republicans, they did not find any real evidence that Biden had committed crimes or benefited directly from some of his family’s questionable business deals. They never even voted to impeach him.
Furthermore, Trump and others have often suggested that retribution would be justified by claiming Biden was behind Trump’s indictments. In fact, there is no real evidence of that or anything comparable to Trump’s first-term actions. About the firmest thing Republicans have pointed to is a 2022 New York Times report that Biden had privately complained about Trump not having been indicted.
In the Hannity interview, Trump brought up Biden’s failure to pardon himself no fewer than four times, often saying Biden not pardoning himself reflected bad advice.
“Joe Biden has very bad advisers,” Trump said. “Somebody advised Joe Biden to give pardons to everybody but him.”
“And you know, the funny thing — maybe the sad thing — is he didn’t give himself a pardon,” Trump said. “And if you look at it, it all had to do with him. I mean, the money went to him.”
“He pardoned everybody, but he didn’t pardon himself,” Trump added at another point. “And remember this: Those people that he pardoned are now mandated, because they got a pardon, to testify. And they can’t take the Fifth.”
(Translation: Those people can no longer avoid questions by asserting Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination, because they’ve been pardoned.)
Hannity directly asked, “Should Congress investigate that?”— apparently referring to Biden’s preemptive pardons. But perhaps tellingly, Trump took it as a question about his attorney general investigating Biden.
Trump gave a noncommittal answer but suggested his calculus was now different than it was with Clinton.
“I was always against that with presidents and Hillary Clinton; I could have had Hillary Clinton — a big number done on her,” Trump said, adding: “I went through four years of hell by this scum that we had to deal with. I went through four years of hell. I spent millions of dollars in legal fees and I won, but I did it the hard way. It’s really hard to say that they shouldn’t have to go through it also. It is very hard to say that.”
Then Trump repeated: “Joe Biden — remember this: Joe Biden got very bad advice like he has in everything.”
When Hannity told Trump that he was being told to turn the subject to the economy because he was running out of time, Trump objected, saying, “I don’t care.”
“This is more important, because right now the economy is going to do great,” Trump said.
Then Trump returned to the “more important” point he had made repeatedly before — about the bad advice.
“But you have to understand he had bad advisers on almost everything,” Trump said. “It’s like in the old days when the secretary of state said he never made a correct decision on foreign policy. Joe Biden got very bad advice.”
This was clearly a point of emphasis, judging by Trump’s repeating the talking point over and over and making sure he got it in one last time, even when Hannity wanted to move on.
Trump for some reason really wanted everyone to remember that Biden not pardoning himself was a bad idea and even pointed to how people could be made to testify fully. He also mentioned how “the money” — it’s not clear what money — went to Biden.
It’s not terribly subtle.
How to read that? It’s certainly possible this is Trump being provocative. But those who would like to dismiss this as bluster are ignoring plenty of history.
And Trump not only seems to have more motivation this time — as he effectively told Hannity — but he’ll be surrounded by people who are more loyal to him. A big problem with Trump’s previous efforts to politicize the justice system was not just the sheer lack of evidence, but the people around him who tried to adhere to the norms.
It’s all a marked contrast to after the 2016 election, when Trump at the very least saw value in the perception that he was moving on.
Tags
Who is online
323 visitors
I dont know how to break this to Trump, but Biden would be immune to any charges he tried to influence the DOJ to indict Trump.
That was the Supreme Court decision that saved Trumps ass in the J6 case, throwing out all the evidence of Trump attempting to coerce DOJ officials into lying for him.
Oughta be careful pushing this bit of propa. Before the year is out, there might be bipartisan support for prosecuting Biden. Democrat leadership may be in for a rough ride for having failed to stop Trump when they had the chance. Democrat recriminations could be far worse than Trump's retribution.