Summary

Sen. Bernie Sanders urged President Biden to “very seriously” consider pre-emptive pardons for members of the Jan. 6 Committee after Trump threatened to jail them.

Trump has also pledged to pardon convicted Jan. 6 rioters, calling their imprisonment unjust.

Sanders condemned Trump’s remarks as authoritarian, while some Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, disagreed with Trump’s proposal.

Committee members, including Adam Schiff and Bennie Thompson, defended their work, calling Trump’s comments an attack on democracy and the rule of law.

  • themaninblack@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    The problem with this plan is that you can never get all edge cases. It’s almost like Pascal’s Wager. Pardons should go away entirely, IMO. If there is a problem with the justice system, fix the justice system. None of this selective amnesty shit.

  • ef9357@lemmy.sdf.org
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    6 days ago

    How about urging Biden to preemptively protect women, reproductive rights, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, and any other vulnerable population? THAT’S how Biden can redeem himself, if he even cares.

    • Railcar8095@lemm.ee
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      7 days ago

      What do you mean? Is it going too far to preemptively pardon the Death Corps? They are such nice people! Pardoning just in case, I’ll take no further questions.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        I’m not even thinking of that. Death squads tend to wind up dealt with by reconstruction tribunals. I’m more worried about people like Oliver North, Roger Stone, J. Edgar Hoover, and Roy Cohn. As well as the entirety of the Nixon administration and campaigns.

  • TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee
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    7 days ago

    Definitely, it would at least establish a precedent if they aren’t held, which is something Trump would then not be able to abuse.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      7 days ago

      Good point. It’s win/win (so Biden probably won’t do it).

      But either they hold, and we don’t have to watch these people get put in prison or possibly executed for doing their jobs correctly, or they don’t, and it sets the precedent that pre-emptive pardons don’t work, and therefore they’re not an option for Trump.

      Not that precedent has stopped these people before…

  • Reality_Suit@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Right now, Biden could remove Trump, and the Supreme Court ruled he could not be held accountable while president.

    I bet this post will be used against me as proof of a crime in the future. We’ll just have to wait and see.

    • protist@mander.xyz
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      7 days ago

      Trouble is only the president is immune from prosecution, per SCOTUS. Unless Biden personally chokes the life out of Trump’s flabby, orange body, someone else would be on the hook for murder

      • RandomVideos@programming.dev
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        7 days ago

        Im not sure about the USA, but in Romania you cant get punished for a crime if you were threatened by someone to do something(with a real chance of the threat happening), only the person who threatened you

        • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          In the united states the military has had it drilled into them that they have a legal obligation to disobey unlawful orders even when threatened. It’s a little bit because of Nuremberg and a lot because of the massive number of war crimes we committed in Vietnam

      • bitwise@lemmy.ca
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        7 days ago
        • Order his murder
        • Pardon those responsible
        • ???
        • Profit?

        Not advocating, just saying the “logic” of complete immunity plus his pardon powers means he can just make it go away, right? (This is why the idea of prosecutorial immunity is a terrible one.)

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Why do people think Trump would abide by pardons? He and many of the politicians supporting him have stomped all over tradition, procedure, and legal mandates.

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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      7 days ago

      He’ll get the supreme court to allow a sitting president to cancel pardons but for some reason he’ll be the only one that applies to if a Democrat tries to use that power at some point.

      • callouscomic@lemm.ee
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        7 days ago

        A Democrat would say some shit about bipartisanship or something and never use that power and then get walked all over and allow the country to suffer.