US President Joe Biden, as he weighed whether to grant pre-emptive pardons in recent days, made clear in conversations with aides that he does not believe those who received them are guilty of any crimes – and expressed concern that pardoning them could give connotation of guilt, according to people familiar with the conversations.
Ultimately, Biden set aside these concerns with the view that providing protection would outweigh the potential implication of guilt.
In doing so, he is taking an unprecedented step in presidential history. Preemptive pardons on such a broad scale have never been issued before. When former President Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, he was facing a real threat of prosecution.
None of those on Biden’s list appeared to be at risk of imminent legal action. But Biden believed the threat was real enough that protection was necessary.
In the last hours of his presidency, he also announced the pardon of members of the January 6 committee, in addition to the people who already appeared on the list of those pardoned on Sunday (19).
This content was originally published in Biden considered “risk” before granting pardon to committee, sources say on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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