Charlamagne Tha God criticized Joe Biden for considering giving pre-emptive pardons to political figures who might attract the attention of the upcoming Trump administration.
There were speculations last week that individuals like former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, and Dr. Anthony Fauci were under discussion for potential blanket pardons.
On Wednesday, Bill Clinton expressed his readiness to have a conversation with Biden regarding a possible pardon for his wife Hillary Clinton as a precaution in case President-elect Donald Trump decides to pursue his previous pledge to prosecute her.
Charlamagne, real name Lenard McKelvey, said that these potential pardons make everyone involved appear suspicious and criticized ‘old a**’ Biden.
He asked on The Breakfast Club Thursday: ‘Why would I be pardoning you if you don’t have any crimes connected to you? Doesn’t that make you look guilty if I give you a preemptive pardon?’
Co-host DJ Envy played devil’s advocate, suggesting that it ‘means that we know who Trump is, and we know what Trump’s probably going to do.’
Charlamagne pushed back, immediately, saying: ‘Or it could mean Trump knows something that we don’t know, and that’s why he’s going after these people.’
He had already suggested the kinds of people who should receive pardons, including non-violent drug offenders in federal prison, as well as former Maryland State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.
‘I just don’t understand why you would give somebody a preemptive pardon. Like, it just feels like you’re saying, “Okay, I know this person is guilty of something, and Trump may go after them.”‘
Biden – who has been busy dealing with the fallout from his decision to pardon his son Hunter over gun and tax crimes – hasn’t been brought into the discussions yet, the outlet said.
White House officials fear that doling out pardons to people who haven’t been charged with a crime could suggest impropriety.
But there’s also a worry that if Kash Patel is successfully elevated to head of the FBI, Trump could truly go after his critics, as Patel has suggested.
Politico reported that ‘the beneficiaries know nothing’ about being considered by the Biden administration for a preemptive pardon.
Schiff said that he wouldn’t want to be a recipient.
‘I would urge the president not to do that,’ Schiff told Politico. ‘I think it would seem defensive and unnecessary.’
On Thursday, Biden announced he was commuting the sentences of 1,500 people and pardoning 39 others in the biggest ever single-day act of clemency in the US.
The commutations were announced for those who were placed on home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden said these people would have received shorter sentences if charged under today’s laws, policies, and practices.
Officials said last week that the White House was listening to demands for Biden to extend the same grace to thousands of people wronged by the U.S. judicial system.
Sources had told Reuters that the pardons that were being discussed were said to include those convicted of nonviolent drug offenses and people identified by civil rights groups as unjustly incarcerated.
Biden said he would be taking more steps in the weeks ahead and would continue to review clemency petitions.
Republicans lambasted the pardons and commutations who say the Squad liberals must have influenced him.
‘Well, whatever legacy he thought he was going to have, he trashed it,’ Texas Republican Rep. Jake Ellzey told DailyMail.com.
He called it ‘nonsense’ that Biden would grant the largest act of clemency ever while giving his son Hunter his own pardon on a separate day. ‘That’s up to the folks on the other side of the aisle to explain,’ he added.
‘So this isn’t a surprise, trust me,’ another Texas Republican, Rep. Troy Nehls, told DailyMail.com, he said Biden likely has many more commutations in store for close allies.
‘He’s still going to do something for maybe some of the the the J6 committee and some of these others,’ Nehls continued.
Democrats, however, were excited about Biden’s historic action.
‘I am heartened by what he did this morning,’ Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said Thursday.
‘The president demonstrated this morning that he is focused on issues around equity. He’s focused on principle. And he showed up in a powerful way.’
Squad member Ayanna Pressley just days ago was pressuring Biden to provide commutations for criminals, saying: ‘He must use that power before leaving office.’
‘This is about saving lives and addressing the injustices of our legal system,’ her post from Tuesday read.
On Thursday, she celebrated the president’s choice.
‘Clemency changes and saves lives. And thanks to [Biden], 1,500 families will have their lives changed forever,’ she wrote on X Thursday.
One Republican said that Biden’s picks were unacceptable choices due to their alleged past history.
‘In Joe Biden’s mass clemency announcement were two CCP spies and a child predator. How on earth is this acceptable?’ Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., posted on X.
‘The Left is evil, and this regime must be held accountable for the havoc they’ve wreaked on our country,’ he continued.
Biggs was referring to Shanlin Jin, who actually was not included in Biden’s latest clemency round up.
He had pleaded guilty to possession of child porn after 47,000 images were found on his computer as was included in a November prisoner swap to go back to China.
The second largest single-day act of clemency was by Barack Obama, with 330, shortly before leaving office in 2017.
Other presidents have issued controversial pardons – usually in the final days of their presidency.
In 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor Richard Nixon for any crimes he had ‘committed or may have committed’ in the Watergate scandal. This was the first pre-emptive pardon by a president.
In 2001, President Bill Clinton pardoned 140 people on his last day in office including billionaire Marc Rich, who had been a fugitive for decades for fraud related to making illegal oil deals and not paying more than $48 million in taxes.
Family pardons are also not unheard of in presidential history. Before he left office, Clinton granted brother Roger a controversial presidential pardon for a 1985 cocaine-trafficking conviction.
Trump himself pardoned Charles Kushner, father of son-in-law and ex-advisor Jared, before leaving office in 2020. Kushner was just yesterday named the US ambassador to France.
In the last 12 hours of his presidency, Donald Trump pardoned and commuted the sentences of 144 people, including former advisors Stephen Bannon and Roger Stone, as well as the rapper Lil Wayne.
