The outgoing American president wishes to protect these elected officials or civil servants from “unjustified and politically motivated legal proceedings”.
Published on 20/01/2025 14:14
Reading time: 2min
A precaution that says a lot about the political climate in the United States. A few hours before ceding power to Donald Trump, Joe Biden granted, Monday January 20, a series of preventive pardons to elected officials or civil servants in the Republican's sights to protect them from “unjustified and politically motivated legal proceedings”.
“I believe in the rule of law and I am sure that the solidity of our judicial system will ultimately prevail in the face of political debates. But we live in exceptional circumstances and I cannot, in good conscience, do nothing “he wrote in a press release.
-While his Republican successor has sworn to “revenge” of his political adversaries, the 82-year-old Democrat has decided to give his protection to personalities who are also the bugbears of the Trumpists: Donald Trump's former chief of staff of the armed forces, General Mark Milley; the former architect of the Covid-19 strategy under Trump and Biden, Anthony Fauci; and the elected officials and civil servants who participated in a commission of inquiry into the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as well as the police officers who testified before this same commission.
“Worryingly, state servants have been subjected to threats and intimidation for faithfully carrying out their duties”said Joe Biden. “Some were even threatened with legal action.”
Never before has the power of presidential pardon been used so extensively in the United States to absolve people who are the subject of potential political prosecution by a successor.
Joe Biden had also decided, at the beginning of December, to grant an extended pardon to his son Hunter, who is struggling with the law and a favorite target of the American hard right.
Related News :