Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told Newsmax on Tuesday that the Senate is examining its options when it comes to challenging the blanket pardons that former President Joe Biden issued to his family members and others in the final minutes of his presidency.
"We are looking right now at what our recourse could be because it is a constitutional power given to the president that he is able to pardon these actions, but I don't think that our founders ever anticipated that a president would issue a blanket and preemptive pardon for any crimes that may have been committed during a certain period of time," Blackburn said on "The Chris Salcedo Show." "No one's ever heard of somebody just getting these blanket pardons so we would like to do something, some form of recourse.
"I don't know if there would be a challenge on this at the Supreme Court or not, but it is disgusting that you have Joe Biden at the last minute go in and pardon his family members and then pardon [Sen.] Adam Schiff [D-Calif.], [former Rep.] Liz Cheney [R-Wyo.], Dr. [Anthony] Fauci, [former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff] Mark Milley, all of these people that were on the Jan. 6 committee," she continued. "And you have to wonder: If someone accepts that pardon, is that an admission of guilt?"
Just before his presidency ended at noon on Monday, Biden issued preemptive pardons for his family members, including his brother and sister-in-law, James B. Biden and Sara Jones Biden; his sister and her husband, Valerie Biden Owens and John T. Owens, and his other brother, Francis W. Biden.
"My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics," Biden said in a statement. "Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end."
The outgoing president added that the "issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense."
In a statement announcing the pardons of Fauci, Milley, and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Biden said he issued the pardons in his final hours as president due to "exceptional circumstances" and he "cannot in good conscience do nothing."
"Even when individuals have done nothing wrong — and in fact have done the right thing — and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances," Biden said.
Schiff, a past member of the now-shut down House Jan. 6 committee, reportedly called his preemptive pardon from Biden "unnecessary" and "unwise."
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