Sen. Coons: Biden ‘Should Seriously Consider’ Preemptive Pardons

BERMAN: “On the subject of pardons, there has been discussion about whether President Biden should issue some kind of preemptive pardons, maybe for people on the January 6th Committee, maybe for other people who have gone sideways with people in the incoming Trump Administration. Sarah Isgur, who worked in Trump‘s first Justice Department, but apparently upset some people in the current Trump world, she wrote an op ed today in which she noted that Kash Patel, in one of his books, had listed her among people that should have some kind of action taken against them. She writes today, ‘I‘m on Mr. Patel‘s list. I don‘t want a pardon. I can‘t speak for anyone else on the list, but I would hope that None of them would want a pardon either. If we broke the law, we should be charged and convicted. If we didn‘t break the law, we should be willing to show that we need the trust and fairness of the justice system that so many of us have defended.’ She also said that if she were to be prosecuted by the Trump Administration, it would embarrass them somehow. How do you feel about President Biden issuing preemptive pardons?”
COONS: “John, I respect the quote you just read from one of the folks on Kash Patel’s enemies list. I’ll just remind you that to be investigated by the FBI, prosecuted by a U.S. Attorney, can cost a defendant hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions of dollars, and can be profoundly disruptive to their lives. I spoke to Senator Schiff this week on the floor, and he has made similar statements that he and I think Liz Cheney, former congresswoman Liz Cheney has also made this statement that they don‘t want to be pardoned because they‘ve done nothing wrong. And I admire their determination to trust our legal system and to stand up to the bluster and the threats of Kash Patel and President-Elect Trump, but I think part of why there is some consideration being given to proactive pardons is the cost and the disruption and, frankly, the disrespect for the work of Congress that underlies a threat to try those who served on a committee of the House of Representatives.”
BERMAN: “So you think it’d be a good idea for Biden to do it?”
COONS: “I think the president‘s got to weigh a lot of different factors: how seriously he believes that Kash Patel, the nominee to be FBI director, and the other nominees to lead the Trump Administration‘s law enforcement agencies, how seriously they are determined to go after their enemies list, and whether or not some of those who are on that list and who are reasonably foreseeably going to be investigated want a pardon. If they talk through this issue and decide that there‘s no one who is seeking a pardon, that will lead them down one path. If there‘s others who are petitioning urgently for some relief, I think you should seriously consider it.”