Columnist Floats Unusual Trump Idea for Biden

Washington Post pundit suggests president should pardon him should he be indicted
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 19, 2022 5:10 PM CDT
Columnist: Biden Should Pardon Trump
President Biden on the South Lawn of the White House Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

It's very much unclear how the Justice Department investigations into Donald Trump will unfold, but Jason Willick floats one scenario that may cause supporters of both parties to do a double-take. In his Washington Post op-ed, Willick writes that President Biden should pardon Trump should the former president be indicted by Attorney General Merrick Garland. In Willick's view, one of the worst potential outcomes is that Trump runs for re-election while under indictment, meaning that "America’s 2024 election will be clouded by the incumbent administration’s novel prosecution of a rival candidate of a major party." A pardon from Biden would avoid that.

Willick writes that he's not naively suggesting that Biden martyr himself politically. In fact, he thinks any such pardon would do the opposite. "Making such a startling move could put the weary president back in the center of the political universe, scramble political alignments and make his former rival—if he accepts the humbling offer—appear small and weak." A pardon also would hurt Trump's "potent" argument to GOP primary voters that Democrats are so desperate to stop him they must resort to "extraordinary" means, he writes. Read the full column, in which Willick makes the case that a pardon could restore trust in the Justice Department, too. (More Donald Trump stories.)

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