Bill Clinton says he’s open to talking to Biden about preemptive pardon for Hillary Clinton
Former President Clinton said he is open to having a conversation with President Biden about a potential preemptive pardon for his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Bill Clinton joined “The View” on Wednesday, where he was discussing President-elect Trump taking office early next year and the threat of him going after political enemies during his second term.
“Do you think it would be wise of President Biden to preemptively pardon any potential targets? What about your wife, Hillary Clinton?” host Sunny Hostin asked, highlighted by Mediaite.
“I think if President Biden wanted to talk to me about that, I will talk to him about it, but I don’t think I should be giving public advice on the pardon power,” Bill Clinton said. “It’s a very personal thing, but … I hope [Trump] won’t do that.”
Biden has had discussions with his senior team about using the pardon power to protect Trump's critics, who could be targeted in the next administration.
Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 election to Trump, has been on his radar for years. Her husband, the former president, said Trump and his allies have a problem with her over that election, but she didn’t do anything wrong.
“They’ve got a problem with her because first, she didn’t do anything wrong. Second, she followed the rules exactly as they were written. Third … remember how the emails were such a big issue in 2016? Trump’s State Department found that Hillary sent and received exactly zero classified emails on her personal device. It was a made-up phone story,” he said.
In another recent interview, former President Clinton blamed the “mainstream media” coverage of his wife’s email controversy for her 2016 presidential loss.