While signing executive orders in the Oval Office on Monday evening, President Donald Trump weighed in on former President Joe Biden’s last-minute pardons just before he handed power back to Trump. Biden’s sweeping provision of legal immunity encompassed the January 6 Committee, including former Congresswoman Liz Cheney.
Aside from the January 6 Committee, Biden extended pardons to various other political allies such as Dr. Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and multiple members of his own family in the final hours of his presidency. Speaking about the J6 panel and singling out Liz Cheney in particular, a staunch opponent of Trump’s, the president was led to believe they committed punishable offenses.
“How about this J6 committee? How do you … why is he pardoning them?” Trump asked while sitting at the Resolute desk. “The reason is because, if you delete and destroy documentation, everything, they have nothing, because they were guilty as hell,” he asserted, insinuating that no innocent person would go to such lengths to destroy evidence.
Trump continued, “They rigged it. It was a rigged deal. And when you do that, they look very bad, but I was a little surprised he did it.” Calling out the Wyoming Republican specifically, he added, “Liz Cheney, she’s a lunatic, and she lost by the greatest margin in the history of a politician running for Congress, like 40 points.”
“The reason it was the greatest is because anybody losing that badly is going to drop out, but she’s a nut job. She doesn’t drop out. You know, she just keeps chugging forward, and she lost by almost 40 points. That’s the biggest number anybody’s ever lost by,” he added. Cheney had vowed to support Vice President Kamala Harris last year, breaking from the vast majority of the GOP.
Furthermore, Trump questioned what drove Biden to issue the pardons to begin with. “But why would Biden do that? He pardoned her and pardoned everybody.” The president also got into legal precedent in certain cases related to destroying documents. “The reason is that they destroy documents, and if you’re even in a civil case, which this wouldn’t be, I mean, people would go to jail for a long time for doing that,” he said.
Former Republican Arizona State Senate primary candidate Josh Barnett weighed in on the pardons in a post on X. “A pardon typically grants forgiveness for a specific offense or set of offenses committed before the pardon was issued. However, if someone is found guilty of treason after receiving a pardon for previous crimes, the pardon does not extend to this new offense,” he said.
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After explaining legal theory, he concluded, “A pardon would not protect an individual from legal action for treason committed or discovered after the pardon was granted. However, the exact implications might depend on the wording of the pardon and the laws of the specific country or state. If you’re looking at a specific case or need detailed legal advice, consulting with a legal expert would be advisable.”
Watch Trump discussing the pardons below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.