Biden’s sweeping last-minute pardons could come back to haunt his family, Alan Dershowitz says
Attorney Alan Dershowitz said Monday that former President Joe Biden opened his family to potential jeopardy with the sweeping pardons that he issued shortly before his term of office ended.
Biden, on the last day of his term, issued preemptive pardons to Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Army Gen. Mark Milley, members of the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol, and members of his family. Dershowitz, during an episode of “The Dershow,” said that the pardons protected Biden’s family from criminal charges, but they also cost the Bidens the ability to plead the Fifth Amendment should Congress subpoena them.
“Before he left, President Biden did what I thought he would not do. It was foolish for him to do it, but he did it. He pardoned his brother. He pardoned his relatives and, you know, everybody under the, everybody related to him who could have been regarded as part of the Biden crime family,” Dershowitz said. “This is after the president pretty much-assured everybody who was going to go after any of these people that he preemptively pardoned everybody. One of the questions that has been asked is, are preemptive pardons constitutional? We don’t know for sure.”
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“The pardon power was borrowed from England. It’s not clear whether in England you could preemptively pardon somebody who’s not being investigated, but there is a precedent, of course. It was never tested, and that is President Ford did preemptively pardon President Nixon who wasn’t being charged with anything, though it was being investigated by special counsel, and he could have been charged,” Dershowitz added. “So, I think the law’s pretty clear that a president can preemptively pardon. Should he have done it? It’s his prerogative.”
Biden announced the pardon of his son, Hunter Biden, in a statement released by the White House on Dec. 1. Biden said his son had been “singled out.” The former president also said that “political opponents” were seeking to “break” both him and his son in the courts.
Dershowitz also had words for former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who was vocal about not wanting a pardon.
“He certainly opens the door to President Trump to pardon anybody who he feels was subject to any kind of injustice or would be subject to any kind of it. Just as one of the people, Adam Kinzinger wasn’t going to accept the pardon,” Dershowitz said. “Adam, go back and read the cases. You have no choice. The law doesn’t allow you to reject a pardon. You can say you’re rejecting it, but it has the same impact. If you’re pardoned, you can’t be prosecuted. No matter what you think or say, you can’t waive that.”
“Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1911 ruled that a pardon is a presidential prerogative, not subject to acceptance or rejection by the person being pardoned. So, Adam, you’re pardoned, whether you like it or not, you’re pardoned, and so are all the other people,” Dershowitz said.
Kinzinger and other members of the Jan. 6 committee accepted their pardons in a statement Monday.
“One of the reasons the president gave [for the pardons] is he doesn’t want his relatives and friends and people who are good people in his view to be subject to the expenses of massive investigation. Duh, you didn’t stop that. Congress can still investigate all these people,” Dershowitz said.
“In fact, they’ve lost their Fifth Amendment privilege. So, now, if Congress subpoenas them, they have to testify, they can’t claim the Fifth Amendment. So, your brother and all the others can be called in front of the Republican-controlled Senate committee or House committee.”
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