Expressing his willingness on Wednesday, Bill Clinton stated that he would be open to discussing a potential pardon for his wife, Hillary Clinton, with President Joe Biden. This hypothetical situation arose in response to concerns that President-elect Donald Trump might pursue legal action against her.
During the 2016 campaign, Trump often criticized Clinton, and his nominee for FBI Director, Kash Patel, has suggested that Clinton may have engaged in illegal activities. This has fueled speculation about the possibility of legal action being taken against her.
The phrase “lock her up” became a rallying cry for Trump supporters, reflecting their desire to see Clinton face legal consequences. In addition, Trump himself has made statements indicating a desire to retaliate against individuals whom he perceives as his political adversaries.
Bill Clinton, during an appearance on ABC’s The View, called any potential targeting of his wife a ‘fool’s errand.’
‘If Kash Patel is determined to make one up, he could do it, but I think if President Biden wanted to talk to me about that, I will talk to him about it,’ the former president said.
However, he then added he may not be the best person to talk about pardons. During his presidency Clinton caused a huge controversy when he pardoned 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.
‘I don’t think I should be giving public advice on the pardon power. I think it’s too — it’s a very personal thing, but it is — I hope [Trump] won’t do that,’ Clinton said.
‘Trump, you know, most of us get out of this world ahead of where we’d get if all we got was simple justice. And so it’s normally a fool’s ear and to spend a lot of time trying to get even,’ Bill Clinton added.
Patel has listed of dozens of people he viewed as ‘deep state’ enemies, including current National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, current FBI Director Cristopher Wray, former FBI Director James Comey, Comey’s former deputy Andy McCabe, ex-FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI attorney Lisa Page.
Trump has railed against Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server as secretary of state.
She was investigated for her use of the server but said she never used it to send classified information.
Clinton ultimately wasn’t charged in the case. Trump claims that was because the Justice Department was protecting her.
Then-FBI director James Comey, in October 2016, which was one month before that year’s presidential election, announced he was reopening the investigation. He didn’t find anything new but Clinton allies blamed his announcement on her loss to Trump.
Bill Clinton, while on The View, argued that his wife ‘followed the rules exactly as they were written,’ regarding her use of a private server as secretary of state.
He noted that official investigations never found her guilty of what she was accused of by Republicans.
‘They’ve got a problem with her because first, she didn’t do anything wrong. Second, she followed the rules exactly as they were written. Third, Trump’s State Department — Trump’s State Department — found — remember how the emails were such a big issue in 2016? Trump’s State Department found that Hillary sent and received exactly zero classified emails on her personal device. It was a made-up phony story,’ he said.
Biden is considering blanket pardons of many political officials that Trump may target even if they haven’t broken the law. A blanket pardon would spare them legal fees if Trump would try and target them.
Trump has vowed revenge against those he thinks wronged him, including former Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican who criticized his actions on January 6th; Senator Adam Smith, who, as a member of the House, led impeachment proceedings against Trump; Dr. Anthony Fauci, who was a top medical official during the COVID pandemic; and Jack Smith, the special counsel who indicted Trump on multiple federal charges.
The president-elect railed against his political opponents during the election and hasn’t let up.
On Sunday, he threatened to jail every House lawmaker who sat on the special committee that investigated the January 6th insurrection.
‘Everybody on that committee … for what they did, yeah, honestly, they should go to jail,’ Trump told NBC’s Meet the Press.
Biden made a controversial pardon decision of his own when he pardoned his son Hunter after repeatedly vowing not to.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has acknowledged there are more pardons to come but hasn’t offered any specifics.
She also defended Biden’s decision to pardon his son, saying ‘circumstances have changed.’
In his statement announcing Hunter’s pardon, President Biden said his son was a target for list name.
‘No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,’ he said.
He pardoned his son shortly before Hunter faced sentencing for federal convictions tied to a handgun purchase and not paying his taxes.
