WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Friday he will not issue preemptive pardons for himself as he considers preemptively pardoning opponents of President-elect Donald Trump who he fears could become politically motivated targets for the Trump administration. Objectives of motivational investigation.
Asked if he had ruled out preemptively pardoning himself and other family members, Biden told reporters: “For myself?” “What would I pardon myself for? No, I haven’t thought about pardoning myself for anything. thing. I didn’t do anything wrong.
Biden, who last month pardoned his son Hunter Biden for tax intrusion and firearms felonies, was still evaluating whether to take the unprecedented step of preemptively pardoning a potential suspect in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY earlier this week. Trump targets such as former Rep. Liz Cheney.
Trump and some of his allies have said they will seek legal punishment against his political opponents and others investigating his alleged crimes.
President Joe Biden speaks during an event in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 10, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Biden addressed today’s jobs report and the state of the economy.
The possibility of preemptively pardoning people not accused of any crime raises a host of legal issues that could sway Biden into inaction.
Ten days before leaving office, Biden gave a speech touting his record as president, including a drop in the employment rate from 4.2% to 4.1% in December, and then answered several questions from reporters.
More: Regret, precedent and legacy: 7 takeaways from Biden’s USA TODAY interview
Biden calls Meta’s decision to cancel fact checks ‘shameful’
Biden blasted CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s move this week to cancel its fact-checking program on Facebook, Instagram and Threads ahead of Trump’s return to the White House. The world’s largest social media platform, with more than 3 billion users worldwide.
“It’s important to tell the truth,” Biden said, calling publishing lies “goes against everything about America.”
“We want to tell the truth. We don’t always do that in this country. But we want to tell the truth,” he added. “A billionaire can buy something and say, ‘By the way, from now on, we’re not fact-checking anything.'” And, you know, when millions of people are online and reading this stuff, I Think this is really shameful.
President Joe Biden speaks during an event in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 10, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Biden addressed today’s jobs report and the state of the economy.
Meta has also relaxed its discussion guidelines around topics like immigration and gender identity.
Rather than employing a formal fact-checking program to address questionable claims posted on the Meta platform, Zuckerberg plans to implement a “community annotation” system similar to that used on X, which is owned by Elon Musk.
More: Why Meta Gets Greater: Mark Zuckerberg and Inside Donald Trump’s Reset
‘I think I’ll beat Trump’
Looking back on the 2024 election, Biden reiterated that he believed he would have defeated Trump had he withdrawn from the race amid pressure from top Democrats last July. He made similar remarks in a recent interview with USA Today.
“I don’t think so,” Biden said when asked if he regretted his initial decision to run for reelection. “I thought I would have beaten Trump, could have beaten Trump. And I think Kamala would have beaten Trump.” Can beat Trump.”
“I think Fine Gael is important. When the party is worried about whether I can move – even though I think I can win again – I think Fine Gael is better.”
As for his plans after leaving office, Biden said he will be aggressive and visible. “I’m not going away, I’m not disappearing,” he said.
Source: Reuters
Contact Joey Garrison via X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared in USA Today: Biden says he won’t pardon himself until he leaves White House
