Former President Donald Trump expressed his expectation that President Joe Biden would likely pardon his son Hunter Biden if he faces convictions on the various criminal charges he is currently dealing with. In an interview with Breitbart News, Trump suggested that Joe Biden would do anything to protect his son.
Hunter Biden, the son of President Biden, is facing several criminal charges brought by Special Counsel David Weiss, including possession of a firearm and tax-related charges. Despite the White House repeatedly stating that Joe Biden will not pardon his son, Trump remains skeptical and believes that Biden might take such action if Hunter faces convictions.
Trump also mentioned that during his presidency, some of his attorneys suggested he should pardon himself to avoid legal troubles. However, Trump claimed that he decided against it because he believed he was innocent, and he didn’t want to be the first president to pardon himself for historical reasons. Trump emphasized that he had the option to pardon himself but chose not to exercise that power.
It’s important to note that the likelihood of a sitting president pardoning himself or herself remains a debated legal question, as no president has ever attempted such an action, and the Constitution does not explicitly address this scenario.
“You know, I could have pardoned myself,” Trump told Breitbart News. “I had a couple of lawyers that said these people are crazy, if you don’t do it you’ll go through a lot. I said I didn’t do anything wrong so I’m not going to do it. But I could have pardoned myself when I left the White House. That would have held up very strongly. Pardon is a very powerful right. I didn’t do it because I thought it would be totally inappropriate, and if you do that you look guilty somewhat. But I had that option and I was given that very strong option by lawyers somewhat. I was given that by numerous lawyers who said, ‘If you want to do that you could because you’re going to spend a lot of your time in court and these people are totally nuts, they’re bad people, they hate our country, and they hate you. They have Trump Derangement Syndrome, so, sir, you could pardon yourself now so you won’t have to go through it,’ and I said, ‘I don’t want to do that for purposes of history. I don’t want that history that I pardoned myself, because I did nothing wrong.’”
