President Donald Trump said he would consider granting preemptive pardons to members of his administration before leaving office, pointing to former President Joe Biden’s last-minute pardons of officials and family members as precedent.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he would consider issuing preemptive pardons to members of his administration, citing former President Joe Biden’s use of the presidential pardon power to protect officials, lawmakers and family members before leaving office in January 2025.
“It’s not something I’m thinking about now, but based on Biden, I can do whatever I want, because he certainly pardoned a lot of people. He pardoned everybody of note,” Trump told reporters.
Trump did not identify specific aides he might pardon or indicate that any such action is imminent. His comments leave open the possibility of granting clemency before the end of his second term to administration personnel who could face future federal investigations or prosecutions.
Biden used preemptive pardons during his final hours in office to protect Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members and staff of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, and law enforcement officers who testified before the panel. He also pardoned several members of his own family. Biden said at the time that the actions were intended to shield them from what he described as potential politically motivated prosecutions and emphasized that the pardons were not admissions of wrongdoing.
Biden separately issued a sweeping pardon to his son Hunter Biden in December 2024. Hunter had already been convicted on federal gun charges and pleaded guilty to federal tax offenses, while the pardon also covered other potential federal offenses committed during an approximately 11-year period.
The Constitution gives presidents broad authority to pardon federal offenses, except in impeachment cases. The Supreme Court has long recognized that a pardon may be issued after an offense has occurred but before criminal charges are filed, making so-called preemptive pardons constitutionally permissible. They do not protect recipients from state prosecutions or offenses committed after the pardon is issued.
Trump’s comments come against the backdrop of the criminal cases brought against him after his first presidency. He faced federal charges stemming from efforts to challenge the 2020 election results and his handling of classified documents, state charges in Georgia connected to the 2020 election and a New York prosecution involving business records. The federal cases were later abandoned following his 2024 election victory because of Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump has repeatedly argued that those prosecutions demonstrated how future administrations could use the justice system against former officials. Biden, for his part, cited fears of retaliatory prosecutions when he issued his own preemptive pardons.
Trump stopped short Thursday of saying that he had decided to follow Biden’s example. Instead, he said Biden’s actions had established a precedent that he believes gives future presidents greater latitude to protect officials before leaving office.
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