Legal expert stunned by 'most abnormal day in history of pardon power'
President Joe Biden’s last day in office – which saw President Donald Trump sweep back into power – was anything but normal in the legal world as pardons flew from the outgoing president with more expected to come from the new commander-in-chief.
That’s according to CNN’s senior legal analyst Elie Honig, who said Monday that Biden ushered in “a new moment in U.S history” with his flurry of pardons in his remaining minutes as president. They are likely to be followed be Trump’s long-held promise to pardon Jan. 6 rioters.
“This is the most abnormal day we've ever seen in the history of the pardon power,” Honig said hours after Biden issued preemptive pardons to members of his extended family.
“We started off the day with Joe Biden in his last minutes in office, issuing blanket preemptive pardons to five of his own family members,” he said. “Now – what is to come – the pardons that Donald Trump is going to exercise soon I think are best understood as a raw exercise of political power."
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Honig, a former federal prosecutor, added that there is “no legitimate law enforcement” reasoning for pardoning Jan. 6 rioters. But he told viewers on Monday that he would watch for two key developments as the first full day of Trump’s second term unfolds.
“One – where does Donald Trump draw the line?” Honig said. “Will he only pardon people who were convicted of misdemeanors, will he get up to people who were convicted of destroying property, of violence against police officers? How are they going to draw the lines – there are 1400 people who have been charged.”
Honig noted that it remains unclear what the Department of Justice would then do “with the hundreds of still pending January 6 cases."
He added: “So the stakes are enormous.”
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