President Joe Biden issued a pardon to his son, Hunter, that was so broad and sweeping that experts say they haven’t seen anything like it in generations.
People on both sides of the aisle have taken issue with it. Perhaps the gravest sin the president committed, however, is the fact that by doing so, Biden destroyed the “No one is above the law” mantra they’ve claimed to hold so dear in the Trump era.
This means President-elect Donald Trump has been gifted a green light to pardon any individual he believes may have been “selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.”
Such a prospect is unforgivably nauseating to those on the left.
Charlie Sykes may have summed it up best in sharing a text message he received from an allegedly “smart person.”
“Joe Biden has just removed the issue of pardons from the political arena for the next four years and Trump probably once again can’t believe his own dumb f**king luck at this point,” the person wrote.
Sykes replied, “Sadly, I think he’s right.”
Smart person texts me: “Joe Biden has just removed the issue of pardons from the political arena for the next four years and Trump probably once again can’t believe his own dumb fucking luck at this point”
Sadly, I think he’s right.
— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) December 2, 2024
Now that Trump has been given precedent to issue sweeping carte blanche pardons to those he views as unjustly prosecuted, let’s take a look at the eight likeliest people to be on the receiving end.
The following odds come from BetOnline.ag.
January 6th Protestor (1/10)
This one is a no-brainer. A significant number of the protesters on January 6th were maliciously prosecuted for doing little more than walking through open doors at the Capitol and harmlessly touring the grounds.
Donald Trump has long indicated that he would issue pardons to those who were not part of the very isolated instances of violence that day. He’s even referred to them as “hostages” or “political prisoners.”
He dropped a similarly strong hint in his latest Truth Social posting following the Biden pardon.
“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” asked Trump. “Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”
Ross Ulbricht (1/2)
Ross Ulbricht is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 40 years, for his role in creating and operating the Silk Road.
Silk Road was an online marketplace on the dark web that facilitated the sale of illegal goods, including drugs.
Many argue that Ulbricht’s sentence is excessively harsh, especially considering that he was convicted of non-violent offenses.
Both Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as candidates have publicly stated intentions to commute Ulbricht’s sentence if elected, citing his case as an example of government overreach.
Steve Bannon (2/1)
Steve Bannon was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Bannon served a four-month prison sentence. He was released one week before the 2024 presidential election.
Trump had already granted Bannon a pardon on his last day in office in 2021 regarding legal actions taken against him related to his activities in connection with the “We Build the Wall” fundraising campaign.
Would he issue another? If he does, it should include a similar pardon for Peter Navarro.
Edward Snowden (9/2)
Edward Snowden provided unprecedented revelations in 2013 about the U.S. government’s power, ability, and willingness to spy on innocent Americans.
The massive spying program at the National Security Agency that Snowden brought sunlight to was not only secretive but also potentially unconstitutional, thereby sparking a crucial global conversation on privacy and surveillance.
His actions led to significant legal reforms, including the USA Freedom Act, which curtailed some of the NSA’s surveillance powers.
Trump, in 2020, hinted at pardoning Snowden, suggesting “a lot of people that think that he is not being treated fairly.”
He never issued one, however.
Julian Assange (5/1)
Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, provided a better picture of how U.S. wars were being conducted.
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Assange under the Espionage Act for his role in publishing classified U.S. documents through WikiLeaks.
Assange was released from UK custody in June of 2024 after agreeing to a plea deal with US authorities. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information.
Assange and Snowden are often viewed as a package deal, though betting lines indicate Snowden has a better chance of receiving a pardon than Assange.
Tulsi Gabbard, then a Democrat candidate for president in 2020, urged Trump to pardon both men.
“Please consider pardoning those who, at great personal sacrifice, exposed the deception and criminality of those in the deep state,” she wrote on X.
Gabbard is now a Republican whom Trump nominated as Director of National Intelligence.
.@realDonaldTrump Since you’re giving pardons to people, please consider pardoning those who, at great personal sacrifice, exposed the deception and criminality of those in the deep state. https://t.co/aeXklUsNSd
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) November 26, 2020
Eric Adams (6/1)
New York City Mayor Eric Adams was indicted on federal charges stemming from an investigation into allegations of corruption, specifically related to his acceptance of illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals and a bribery scheme involving luxury travel benefits.
The charges include bribery, wire fraud, conspiracy, and soliciting illegal foreign campaign contributions. The legal actions relate to his activities since at least 2014.
Some have speculated that the pursuit of the Democrat mayor was motivated in part due to his outspoken objections to President Biden’s open border policies. Adams, since Trump’s victory, has expressed a willingness to work with the new administration regarding his immigration enforcement platform.
It would be difficult for Trump to find a mayor willing to work with him if Adams is ousted and replaced with a far-left, sanctuary city proponent. Could a pardon be the answer?
Donald Trump (6/1)
This, in my view, is an absolute necessity. The past four years have shown us that the Democrats, when given power, will do anything to destroy the lives of their political opponents. That includes putting them in jail.
If President Biden had an ounce of common sense, he’d issue a pardon for Trump himself, ending any vicious cycle of government weaponization going forward. But the President-elect can’t count on Biden coming down with sudden onset cognitive realization of the world around him.
In June 2018 – think about that: 2018! – Trump tweeted that he has the “absolute right” to pardon himself, although he qualified this by saying he had done nothing wrong and, therefore, would not need to.
The Supreme Court ruling on immunity and subsequent election victory helped his legal matters of late, but there is no way of predicting any future lawfare schemes being concocted by the resistance party over the next four years.
As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2018
Robert Menendez (10/1)
Former Senator Bob Menendez was initially indicted on bribery charges back in September of 2023. He and his wife were accused of receiving bribes, including cash, gold, luxury vehicles and vacations, mortgage payments, and other forms of compensation, in exchange for enriching multiple New Jersey businessmen.
A search of the senator’s home yielded more than $480,000 in cash – some of it in envelopes stuffed into a jacket with his name on it – gold bars, and a Mercedes.
Menendez was convicted on all counts in his federal corruption trial. He was found guilty of bribery, extortion, wire fraud, obstruction of justice, and acting as a foreign agent for Egypt, among other charges.
Trump has not commented on issuing a pardon but did see similarities in the case that he called “an attack” on Menendez because “he wasn’t getting along too well with the Democrats and with Biden, and he disagrees with Biden on a lot of things.”
