Samantha-Jo Roth writes for the Washington Examiner about Senate Democrats’ preparations for a second Trump administration.
Senate Democrats are weighing whether President Joe Biden should use his final moments of power to issue preemptive pardons to shield those who could receive political retribution from President-elect Donald Trump.
The conversations come against the backdrop of Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail, in which he threatened to seek revenge on people he considers his political foes, referring to them as “enemies from within.”
These concerns have become even more elevated since announcing his picks for attorney general, Pam Bondi, and FBI director, Kash Patel, who have echoed Trump’s promises to imprison and prosecute political enemies who have skirted laws.
“There have certainly been discussions about this among some. How could there not be after all of the threats Trump has issued,” one Senate Democratic aide said, on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the situation.
Trump has circulated social media posts that call for the jailing of House lawmakers who investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, special counsel Jack Smith, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who oversaw Trump’s civil fraud case. The threats have also extended to Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Vice President Mike Pence, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
He also has suggested that his former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley committed a crime once punishable by death, called Sen.-elect Adam Schiff a “sleazebag and traitor,” and insisted he and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi be “prosecuted.” He also targeted former Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, who campaigned for Harris, suggesting he wanted military tribunals to punish her.
Even before Biden issued a pardon for his son Hunter, who was criminally convicted this year on tax and gun charges, on Sunday, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) publicly floated the idea that the president should consider “preemptive pardons” to people Trump has threatened to prosecute.
