California Senator-elect Adam Schiff says he doesn’t want Joe Biden’s preemptive pardon
I don’t want a presidential pardon, says Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, as the White House is reportedly considering pre-emptive pardons for him and others.
Schiff isn’t interested. His office Friday cited his comment to NPR recently: “I don’t think a preemptive pardon makes sense.”
Don’t do it, Schiff said. “I think this is frankly so implausible as not to be worthy of much consideration. I would urge the president not to do that. I think it would seem defensive and unnecessary,” he said.
Schiff, who has represented the Los Angeles area in the House since 2001, will be sworn in as a U.S. senator Monday.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to seek action against those he perceives as enemies. Trump has frequently criticized Schiff, calling him a “sleazebag” and “shifty,” and a “lunatic” who’s an “enemy from within.”
Schiff was the lead prosecutor in Trump’s 2020 impeachment trial, and has been an outspoken critic of Trump for years.
But Schiff has been charged with no crimes and is not being investigated. A presumptive pardon would ensure he would be immune from any such charges, but Schiff says he is not interested. Politico first reported the White House was considering such pardons.
His office Friday cited his comments to NPR last month in describing his views.
“The incoming president doesn’t seem to need a permission slip for anything to break any norm. But I would not have given him the cover of this pardon because he will use that as some rationalization for completely unrelated pardons,” Schiff said.
Earlier this week, Schiff said he was opposed to Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter, who has been convicted of federal gun charges and tax evasion.
“I think it sets a bad precedent that will undoubtedly be abused and probably will be abused in the very near future by the incoming president, who was already citing it in connection with his desire to pardon the January 6th attackers, people who beat police officers and bear-sprayed them,” Schiff told KQED-FM. “And so I think the precedent is going to be a dangerous one.”
This story was originally published December 6, 2024 at 7:54 AM with the headline "California Senator-elect Adam Schiff says he doesn’t want Joe Biden’s preemptive pardon."
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