Donald Trump admitted he respected Joe Biden’s pardon for Anthony Fauci amid public outcries over the president’s own many issued pardons.
During a series of reporter questions in the Oval Office Wednesday, which followed Dr. Fauci’s Senate hearing where he invoked the Fifth Amendment over 100 times, Trump said Biden’s pardon made sense. A question about Biden’s use of an “autopen” on orders involving Fauci’s plans to combat the COVID-19 pandemic got Trump to the truth of it.
“The only thing you can really think about is the auto pen because the most powerful thing the president has, they say, is the power of pardon. So, he was pardoned by Biden and I respect that. I know how powerful it is,” Trump said. “It’s a very powerful — they say it’s literally the most powerful thing a president has.”
He added: “I can’t tell you what the law is. I’ve heard that you have to have a lot of proof. You need to have letters, you also need to have all sorts of things and the person operating the autopen has to know exactly what it’s all about. He didn’t not know what it was about because I saw him testify. So, maybe there’s something on the autopen. Other than that, the power of pardon is very powerful.”
Trump himself has issued over 1700 pardons across both his terms. Most polarizing of them were his pardons for the January 6 rioters. In total, Trump pardon or commuted sentences of around 1500 people who rioted on and in the Capitol Building on the day in question.
“Trump pardoning and releasing from prison the January 6th defendants, including the paramilitaries, means he is effectively immunizing his followers from committing violence in his name,” MS NOW’s Rachel Maddow said at the time of the pardons. “He’s making clear, you know, if you support me, the law doesn’t apply to you.”
She continued: “Not incidentally, the people he’s pardoning and their families will feel like they owe Trump everything, and that they therefore should, and now can, do absolutely anything for him.”
