Pardons, Pardons, Pardons

 Yesterday will be remembered not just for the historic return to power of President Donald Trump, but also for the record number of pardons handed out both by Joe Biden in his final hours and minutes in the Oval Office and by Trump in his first hours in office.

For Biden, Christmas came early for his family members, chief among them brother James. President Biden justified it by claiming that his family (and other figures associated with the January 6 investigation, like Liz Cheney), were going to be hounded by the incoming Trump administration. True or not, it can only add to the stain that was Biden’s presidency. Partially for that reason, I’m not overly troubled by these pardons, and partially because I don’t want to see the back and forth of Republicans and Democrats investigating each other to no end. Not that I think that people in high places who break the law should escape prosecution, but it all smacks of the Third World and what new governments do to their predecessors. There is no perfect solution, and it points to the fact that there needs to be serious reform in our government. Any action taken by the new administration, particularly the Department of Justice, should be based on pursuing justice, not revenge.

Actually, I am more troubled by Trump’s blanket pardons for the January 6 defendants. As I have always said, those who attended Trump’s speech on January 6 did nothing illegal. Those who marched to the Capitol and protested did nothing illegal. Those who broke into the Capitol, beat police officers, and broke things deserved to be prosecuted. We can agree or disagree as to the level of prosecutorial zeal with which they were prosecuted. In my view, for those who simply wandered into the Capitol without being impeded by security, took selfies of themselves without committing mayhem and who were charged I have no issue with pardons or commutations. But it is a fact that some of the people engaged in violence and criminal behavior. Police were in fact injured on that day and some of the scenes I have watched on video were atrocious. It is also true that a female protester was shot dead by an officer, an event that was also captured on video and was questionable and borderline in my view. (He was never charged subsequent to an investigation.) 

The point I am trying to make is that Trump should have been more selective as to who was pardoned and whose sentences were commuted. Those who engaged in violence and destruction should not have been pardoned. I know some of my conservative friends will disagree, but as someone with almost 30 years of law enforcement experience, I don’t take kindly to those who physically assault law enforcement officers regardless of their grievance.

My final point is that it is my hope that this latest round of pardons, both by Biden and Trump, will cause us to reconsider the whole idea of presidential pardons.