Although criminal pardons issued by Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump have received major media attention and criticism, the apparent motives behind these two camps of clemency are quite different.
Those granted by Biden reflect post-election protections of himself, his family and his party from a raft of anticipated criminal indictments attached to current congressional investigations, while those proffered by Trump fulfill a campaign pledge that preceded — and which likely contributed to — his November landslide victory.
Following his party’s White House and congressional election loss turnover, Joe Biden’s blanket pardon parade began with his son Hunter following repeated statements that he would never do so.
The clemency was unprecedentedly sweeping in scope, issuing stay-out-of-jail cards not only for existing criminal tax evasion and illegal firearm purchase convictions, but also preemptively for any other prospective charges dating back to 2014.
This was at a time when Hunter was receiving a million-dollar annual salary for a now-show board position with an allegedly corrupt energy company.
This is also when his then-vice president dad threatened to withhold a billion dollars of U.S. aid to the country if they didn’t fire the government’s prosecutor.
Next came preemptive clemency protections for subjects of current congressional investigations once political Biden-Harris administration blockades were lifted.
First to be included were retired Gen. Mark Miley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and members and staff of the House Select Committee that presided over the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot hearings.
Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Miley was vulnerable to treasonous action prosecution for contacting his Chinese military counterpart in 2021, assuring him that the U.S. had no intentions of launching an attack if a then — "rogue" President Trump issued such an order, also stating that he would offer advance warning if this prospective conflict with China should occur.
Former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Fauci has been subject to GOP House and Senate inquiries regarding his organization’s suspected funding and subsequent coverup of research at a Wuhan, China lab that reportedly artificially created and accidentally released the tragic COVID-19 virus pandemic, killing more than a million Americans.
Former Capitol Jan. 6. riot hearing lawmakers under congressional legal scrutiny include former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming who has faced witness tampering charges, then-Calif. Democratic representative and House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff who was censured by Congress for false Trump-Russia collusion claims, along with other members who are responsible for destroying mountains of U.S. House Select Committee investigation documents.
Then, just literally minutes before Trump became America’s 47th president, Joe preemptively shielded his siblings from criminal prosecution: brother James along with wife Sara, his brother, Francis, and his sister Valerie Biden Owens, and husband John.
There may be little coincidence that this follows documented House committee investigation evidence that nine Biden family members, also including Hunter, received more than $20 million from Ukraine, China, Russia, and numerous other countries through more than 20 shell companies with no reported services during and immediately following the period Joe was vice president.
Such preemptive pardons carry logically legitimate suspicions that in shielding those who obviously benefitted from his high position of influence, Joe also intentionally protected himself.
Having survived a historic onslaught of Democratic warfare attempts to upend his previous term of office and delegitimize his successful 2024 candidacy, President Trump’s pardon to most of the individuals who were convicted, many of whom who have served prison time since 2021 for non-violent Capitol protests, offers no such self-protective motive.
In all, more than 1,500 who were charged have since been released for prison terms served, with sentences of 14 others convicted but unpardoned individuals commuted, and 470 ongoing cases ordered dismissed.
In response to a reporter’s question regarding Jan. 12 comments by Vice President J.D. Vance that violent offenders "obviously" shouldn’t be pardoned, Trump said, "Only for this reason: They've served years in jail, their lives have been ruined."
Rejecting any notion that his pardons indicate that he regards it permissible to assault police officers, Trump said, "I am the friend of police, more than any president that's ever been in this office."
Whereas Biden administration Democrats attempted to pin "insurrection" charges on Trump for allegedly urging the Capitol melee, no guns were discovered on any of the thousands of protestors.
The only shooting victim, unarmed Ashli Babbit, was killed at the hands of Capitol policeman Michael Byrd, who subsequently received a promotion.
This, after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Washington Mayor Murial Bowser had refused an offer by the former president to deploy 10,000 National Guard troops for extra security and had urged his supporters to march peacefully and patriotically to the Capitol building to make their voices heard.
We have since learned from DOJ sources that more than two dozen FBI informants were in Washington D.C. ahead of the riot, and while none were authorized to enter the building or participate, at least four did . . . yet none were arrested.
It's unreported whether they entered from open doors as many did — or through broken windows, a matter now under investigation by Congressional inquiries.
Stunning differences between Biden’s pardons and Trump’s present a stark moral contrast between alleged family foreign influence peddling enrichment and alleged coverups by our nation’s top official, and actions taken to fulfill a campaign pledge and resounding election mandate.
American voters have demonstrated they recognize the difference.
Larry Bell is an endowed professor of space architecture at the University of Houston where he founded the Sasakawa International Center for Space Architecture and the graduate space architecture program. His latest of 12 books is "Architectures Beyond Boxes and Boundaries: My Life By Design" (2022). Read Larry Bell's Reports — More Here.