President Trump Comments on President Biden's Pardons: "An Unbelievable Precedent"

"Well I guess now I have precedent to do it, but I don't want to do it..."

Shortly after the inauguration, I observed that President Biden and his supporters would soon come to regret the Eleventh Hour pardons.

Monday evening, around 8:20 p.m., President Trump delivered these remarks about the pardons in the Oval Office (my transcription):

Trump: I was a little bit surprised he did it. It makes them look guilty. He will have to live with that. Now with that being said, it sets an unbelievable precedent, it creates poor precedent. But the precedent is unbelievable. Now maybe every president who leaves office they are going to pardon every person they ever met so they don't have some lunatic like deranged Jack Smith, whose a total lunatic by the way, not a smart guy, he's a dummy, but we beat the hell out of him. And I helped my reputation.

Question: Do you think you are going to have to do the same thing at the end of this

Trump: Well I guess now I have precedent to do it, but I don't want to do it, it makes you look very guilty. It makes Biden look very bad, very weak, very guilty.

What goes around comes around.

Comments

[Jason Cavanaugh]

Everyone knew you were too much of a bitch to say a word against Trump.

You again do not disappoint expectations.

Go fuck yourself, Josh.

[Frank Drackman]

Original, very Original, you know there’s research that shows chronic anger causes Cancer, I know, doesn’t explain Mr Rogers or all those kids on the St Jude’s , so get that Colonoscopy, PSA, of course there’s no effective screening for most Cancers, so every time your head hurts, it’s just 47’s latest act, not a Glioma

Frank

[emilyhere]

Google paid $195 a hour on the internet..my close relative has been without labor for nine months and the earlier month her compensation check was $23660 by working at home for 10 hours a day..

Here→→ https://da.gd/income666

[apedad]

This reminds me of an awesome line in The Sting.

(Fake) FBI Agent Polk to (bad cop) Snyder: "Sit down and shut up, will ya? Try not to live up to all my expectations."

[Stupid Government Tricks]

That's intelligent. Wise. Right to the point.

Good job. I hope you enjoy the next four years. You deserve some joy in your life.

[darkersouls]

Isn't this article more about what Biden did?

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

In the Trumperverse, no action is ever taken because it is inherently right or wrong, but because the opponent has established the "precedent".

[Doug Heffernan]

Some bad act by some person or other doesn't provide justification for some other person to do the same (or a worse) bad act. Bad acts don't serve any sort of precedent to repeat those bad acts, or somehow make them good.

[DixieTune]

Actually, it does.

"Two wrongs don't make a right" might be a nice line a parent tells young children on the playground, but when it comes to the national political arena, the idea that one side is never morally permitted to respond in kind to the opposite site's abuses is a recipe for being run over, every time.

[Frank Drackman]

I was always taught “Revenge is a dish best served cold” and I do enjoy some cold Revenge

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

It obviously does, if you're amoral.

[Longtobefree]

This is about an act being lawful, not good or bad.
"Never confuse a court of law with a hall of justice"

[Noscitur a sociis]

There’s no serious question that the pardons are lawful, so if that’s all we’re talking about then it’s going to be a pretty short conversation. It certainly doesn’t seem to be what Trump was talking about though!

[Dan Schiavetta]

Josh has debased the VC, and it's getting worse.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

IOW, it's getting better.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Indeed. It is becoming even more entertaining, as otherwise intelligent, trained legal professionals even more painfully seek to contort the rules of morality, law and reason to fit the ever-changing mood and mode of the Trumperverse.

[John F. Carr]

"I observed that President Biden and his supporters would soon come to regret the Eleventh Hour pardons."

The substance of the pardons didn't depend on what Biden did on his way out. Only the words of the announcement changed.

[Frank Drackman]

The pardons don’t cover future acts, if I was Faux-Chee, Lizzie Chaney, Fat Fuck Milley, I’d make sure my taxes were 100% squeaky clean, hard drives too, funny how child porn has a way of “just showing up” on Pedios computers, and if Uncle Remus is like your typical Black Politician he commits 2 or 3 felonies before he brushes his teeth

[Brett Bellmore]

Hunter, at least, has a sufficient track record that I'm honestly shocked he didn't get a second pardon yesterday, just to immunize him against anything he got up to in the month after his first pardon.

The guy IS going to screw up again. Count on it.

[Sarcastr0]

Maybe, maybe not.

This is parasocial; you don't actually know the guy.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Neither do you, and how many of the commenters here do you know, who you regularly insult and opine on their medical condition?

[Dan Schiavetta]

He’s been clean for five years. Nothing would please Trump’s gleeful cruelty more than to hound him with endless prosecutions so that he goes back on crack. Biden’s pardon was the act of a loving and concerned father.

[Brett Bellmore]

He's been clean for the last five years so far as we know. At least the same Biden DOJ that tried that plea agreement the judge rejected said he was clean.

He's just lost his ticket on the gravy train, and the tax crimes really don't suggest he was socking the money away for a rainy day. So I do expect he's going to screw up.

[Sarcastr0]

You have in the past put forth the ridiculous argument that you can't say someone did anything wrong because you're not properly presuming innocence.

You've only applied that to Trump. Here, you continue this double standard.

More than that, you seem fully *eager* for him to fall back into addiction and criminality.
That's no way to be, Brett!

[Brett Bellmore]

No, I'm not hoping he falls off the wagon, or engages in more financial crimes to try to maintain his illegally fueled lifestyle. I'll be delighted if he goes on the straight and narrow.

I'm just saying that I don't expect him to clean up his act that way. He's gotten used to a standard of living he won't be able to honestly maintain going forward, now that Dad isn't able to do favors.

[David Nieporent]

Again, for the record: the judge did not "reject" the plea bargain because it was a so-called "sweetheart deal" or "slap on the wrist" or whatever you've invented in your head. The judge rejected the plea bargain because (a) the parties couldn't agree about what it meant; and (b) assigned responsibility to the judge that the judge didn't want.

[Sarcastr0]

Parasocial is about the one-sided sense of mutual awareness that occurs when someone consumes media about someone they don't know in person and who doesn't know them.

Calling out posters' crazy posts as crazy behavior doesn't fall in that set.

[RedheadedPharoh]

Just investigate them and get them in front ot Congress.

Then nail the shit out of them with process crimes and perjury.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

We might call that "lawmongery".

[Commenter_XY]

The standard has been reset, by Biden. We should expect future POTUS' to live down to it.

I also think we should leave the absolute pardon power undisturbed; do not change it.

[Sarcastr0]

This was locked in before Biden did anything,

Violent convicts and all.

[Brett Bellmore]

Trump ran on commuting the sentences of the J-6 guys. Biden ran on NOT pardoning his family. So of course, Biden was just living down to Trump's example, preemptively...

[Sarcastr0]

Shocked you absolve Trump and condemn Biden.

Even as people on here have proven Biden right about Hunter - there's calls ignore the pardons, you want him to slide into crime quickly, others want like truth and reconciliation investigations.

Meanwhile you're declaring that if it was mentioned in campaign speeches, it's gotta be okay. Which seems to be washing your hand of any personal moral judgement.

[Brett Bellmore]

Biden was right about Hunter being in legal jeopardy, certainly. Who would know better that his son was a criminal?

"Meanwhile you're declaring that if it was mentioned in campaign speeches, it's gotta be okay."

If it's legal, and you ran for office saying you'd do it, that's "okay" for purposes of democratic government. The fact that I think he spread the commutations around maybe a little too widely doesn't change that.

At least people knew what they were getting, there wasn't any attempt to deceive them about what he'd do if elected.

[David Nieporent]

Biden was right about Hunter being in legal jeopardy, certainly. Who would know better that his son was a criminal?

I mean, Hunter was already convicted, so I think we all knew that.

[Kazinski]

The DOJ should fully investigate the allegations that Rep. James Comer developed on influence peddling and pay to play. And since most of the US persons who were conduits for the cash have been pardoned they have no basis for refusing to testify to a grand jury.

To be clear, if there is evidence that Joe committed any crimes I am not advocating he be prosecuted, or Jill either, however there are likely some foriegn individuals who are indictable, and there should definitely be a report issued.

I'm also not sure that any of the proceeds traced to criminal acts are beyond the reach of the DOJ.

Here is Comer's statement:
"President Biden’s preemptive pardons for the Biden Crime Family serve as a confession of their corruption as they sold out the American people to enrich themselves,"

"Our investigation revealed that at least ten members of the Biden Crime Family and their associates raked in over $30 million by selling Joe Biden’s influence to corrupt foreign entities and individuals in China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan."

[Sarcastr0]

Criminal investigations with no hope for a prosecution. What does that sound like to you?

[Armchair]

1) Fact finding to discover the depths of the corruption and identify methods and metrics to prevent similar corruption
2) Fact finding on the corruption and parties that may not have a pardonx
3) Imposition of civil penalties by the IRS for lack of paid taxes

[RedheadedPharoh]

His family pardon didn't cover all 10 ppl.

Shouldn't you be getting ready to into the office?

[David Nieporent]

The DOJ should fully investigate the allegations that Rep. James Comer developed on influence peddling and pay to play.

Which is to say, nothing at all, so the investigation is already over.

I misread this as saying that the DOJ should investigate Rep. Comer for influence peddling and pay to play, and I was like, "Okay, but it seems unlikely that this DOJ would ever do anything like that."

[Kazinski]

Oh, no there could be prosecutions, why would there no hope of prosecutions?

But even if there are foreign actors beyond the reach of US justice, there could be indictments and possibly plea deals.

[Sarcastr0]

Yeah, you and Comer sure seemed focused on foreign actors.

This kind of 'we'll just go after them anyway' just underscores the reasoning behind the pardons.

[Kazinski]

Well, I was told there was nothing to it anyway, so I am sure the Biden family would welcome an investigation to clear their names.

But if Comer is right and the justice department looked the other way, that should also be investigated.

[Sarcastr0]

I was told there was nothing to it anyway, so I am sure the Biden family would welcome an investigation to clear their names.

You know what a federal investigation entails, and what the politics would look like.
Do you think lying about it is cute? It only shows your real motives here. And why you turn off all critical thinking and take every lie Comer tells as gospel.

[RedheadedPharoh]

You're bootlicking ex-elites now... lmao pathetic

[Kazinski]

You don't get to avoid a federal investigation because its personally inconvenient.

And if Comer was lying about it all, then lets expose that too.

[Armchair]

Worth a look. The media identifies how wrong and guilty it would be to issue pre-emptive pardons for your family before leaving office.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/flashback-media-attacked-trump-floating-preemptive-pardons-2020-before-biden-did-so-four-years-later

[David Nieporent]

You will note that Biden did not enter office promising to prosecute Trump family members, and did not in fact prosecute Trump family members while in office.

[шинка]

Trump's not wrong.

Biden created a fuckton of horrific precedents. I have no faith congress will unfuck it.

[SimonP]

"Biden created a fuckton of horrific precedents..." and Trump responds by... doubling down?

[VinniUSMC]

Rules for thee, but not for me! -Fucking Leftist shills

[Sarcastr0]

"Few things are more corrosive in politics than the conviction that you have been wronged so much that you're justified in breaking all the rules to get even."

[SimonP]

Democrats are the only ones who are supposed to be following the rules, apparently.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Why the question mark? How else would one of his ilk respond?

[SimonP]

If we want to compare the way these two presidents exercised the pardon power - then let's!

On his first day, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of 1500-some criminals who had been tried and convicted of a wide range of offenses, ranging from relatively minor property crimes to conspiring to overthrow the government.

On his last day, Biden pardoned a group of family members, politicians, and governmental officials, most of whom had not been accused of (let alone tried or convicted) any specific crime, apparently in an attempt to shield them from vindictive prosecution by Trump's DOJ. Earlier, Biden commuted the sentences of thousands of convicted criminals, including one group of non-violent drug offenders and another group of people who had been moved to home confinement to serve out the remainder of their sentences. The most serious of these actions, in terms of the underlying criminal activity and the people receiving leniency, appear to have been (i) a few notorious cases caught up in the blanket commutations, (ii) Hunter's pardon, and (iii) Peltier's commutation (which was offered in light of his advanced age and poor health).

Now, if someone would like to make a concrete argument that Biden's pardons and commutations were more abusive and problematic than Trump's first-day actions (never mind the pardons he offered at the end of his first term, which were themselves quite noxious) - rather than engage in empty whataboutism - they are welcome to do so. But I'm not sure why anyone would volunteer saying, "Hey, I'm an idiot, why don't you make fun of me for being an empty-headed dildo."

[VinniUSMC]

Hey, I'm an idiot, why don't you make fun of me for being an empty-headed dildo.

Yes, you are an empty-headed dildo. We know. So, go fuck yourself.

[SimonP]

You're lazy and dull. Moving on.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

JB is so bad that someone who agreed that "we are much better now than we were with Biden" thought he was an asshole.

There are various types on this blog, including a libertarian who voted for Kamala Harris given the alternative and someone who voted for a libertarian but deep down is sympathetic to the anti-Democrat over the anti-Trump side.

Remember, God saved Trump to allow Josh to write this.

[myself]

Blackman: How unethical of Biden to issue all of these preemptive pardons for opponents of Trump who haven't even been charged with a crime yet!!!

Also Blackman: Heeey, you know who didn't get a preemptive pardon? Jack Smith! And I know just what to charge him with!!"

[CJColucci]

What serious person believes, given what Trump has already done with the pardon power, that there was something he would not otherwise do that he now will do because of what Biden did?

[Dan Schiavetta]

Good point.

[Brett Bellmore]

Well, I don't. In fact, "Well I guess now I have precedent to do it, but I don't want to do it...", he says he's still not inclined to.

Try to be more upset about the guy who actually did it, than the guy you hypothesize WILL do it.

[TLoro]

President Trump Comments on President Biden's Pardons: "An Unbelievable Precedent"
Says the asshole who just pardoned 1600 federal felons.

[CJColucci]

trump has a record of his own.

[Brett Bellmore]

So, I hear that multiple facilities around DC are defying the pardons and commutations. That should get interesting.

[David Nieporent]

You should stop listening to the voices, Brett.

[bratschewurst]

Biden should have pardoned Trump as well, if only for entertainment value.