President Biden's decision, CNN reporters and hosts said Monday Pardoning his family members The final minutes of his administration tarnished his reputation and was a “disgrace to his legacy.”
“Well, as it turns out, Anderson, there's another broken promise. This is exactly how he ultimately decided to approach the justice system. And this decision is going to raise a lot of troubling questions about the legal precedence of this now.” “This really could have been one of President Biden's final actions as president,” CNN's MJ Lee said, noting. Biden had told CNN's Jake Tapper In December 2020, he stated that the United States would not see a preemptive pardon in his administration, and that his approach to the judicial system would be very different from that of President Trump.
Biden's pardon applies to James Biden, Sarah Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John Owens, and Frances Biden, the White House announced during Trump's inauguration. The former president has now said his family could be subject to “politically motivated investigations” after he leaves office.
Lee said earlier in her statement that this was another way the former president tarnished his legacy.
President Trump calls Biden's last-minute pardon 'unfortunate' at signing ceremony
President Joe Biden walks down the steps of Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (Susan Walsh/AP)
Alyssa Farrah Griffin, a CNN commentator and co-host of The View, said during the discussion that the family member's pardon was “more ambiguous” than his own. Last-minute pardon of Liz Cheney Gen. Mark Milley and Anthony Fauci.
“It's inappropriate,” CNN host John King said. “If you're going to do it, have the courage to do it in broad daylight and explain it to the American people. It's a disgrace to his legacy to do it this way. We can have an argument about, right? Necessary. Did Donald Trump promise retribution? Yes, he promised, “If you are the president of the United States who says the curse of Donald Trump is that he has no respect for democracy and no respect for norms, have the courage to look the American people in the eye and explain what you are doing.”
David Axelrod, a former Obama aide, said the timing of the pardon seemed suspicious.
“The truth is, Trump has been saying this for a long time,” Axelrod said. “That doesn't explain why you would issue a statement in the last 10 minutes of your presidency. He just made the whole thing seem garish.”
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David Axelrod speaks during CNN on January 20, 2025. (Screenshot/CNN)
In December 2020, CNN anchor Jake Tapper asked Biden if he was concerned about rumors that Trump, whom he had just defeated, would issue a wave of preemptive pardons for some of his closest associates.
“Well, it worries me in terms of what kind of precedent it sets in how the rest of the world views us as a nation of law and justice,” he said at the time.
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“You won't see this kind of approach to pardons in our administration,” Biden added. “You also won't see in our administration an approach to making policy through tweets. You know, it will be a very different way of approaching the justice system,” he added.
Fox News' Nicholas Lannom and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
