Biden Issues Preemptive Pardons Against Trump Retribution
INSIDE: Donald Trump ... Aileen Cannon ... Tanya Chutkan
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Not Normal
On his final day in office, President Joe Biden granted preemptive pardons to several high-profile political targets of incoming President Donald Trump.
Biden pardoned:
retired Army General Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff;
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who led the government’s response to the COVID pandemic;
the members and staff of the House Jan. 6 committee;
the police officers who testified before the Jan. 6 committee.
The attempt to protect current and former government officials, including sitting members of Congress, from abusive political retribution and a weaponized Trump II Justice Department was an extraordinary marker of the erosion of the rule of law and democratic norms in the United States.
“[T]hese are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing,” Biden said.
Biden’s pardons were issued just hours before his predecessor was set to be sworn as his successor. Biden had continued to try to observe some of the pomp and circumstance of a presidential transition, keeping traditions like hosting the incoming president at the White House and attending the inauguration, but the pardons and other preemptive efforts to blunt a rogue Trump II administration create a taut public scene on inauguration day.
In issuing the pardons, Biden explicitly noted that they should not signify that the recipients engaged in any wrongdoing. It is not clear whether all of this morning’s recipients will accept the presidential pardons.
LIVE: Trump’s Swearing-In Ceremony
The ironies today abound: Trump being sworn in on the national holiday that honors Martin Luther King, Jr., and in the Capitol Rotunda that a mob of MAGA followers desecrated on Jan. 6, 2021.
TPM will be providing live coverage beginning at 11 a.m. ET.
Transition Tidbits
President Biden spent his last full day in office in South Carolina, which was key to his securing the Democratic nomination in 2020. Speaking at a Black church, Biden urged Americans to “keep the faith.”
Trump’s second inaugural address reportedly will be less dark than his notorious 2017 “American Carnage” shitshow.
TPM’s Josh Kovensky: MAGA, MAHA, And Lots Of Crypto: Which Trump Inaugural Ball Is Right For You?
Day One Of Trump II
I want to caution that many of the expected first day acts of President Trump are going to be more symbolic than substantive. The executive orders in particular are probably best viewed as a combination of real executive orders and press releases gussied up as executive orders. Still, performative hatred towards transgender Americans, people of color, and other vulnerable groups can both be of little legal weight and still carry enormous costs and consequences.
Conflicting reports on whether the Trump administration will immediately conduct a large-scale immigration raid in Chicago this week.
An anti-trans executive order is reportedly in the works.
NYT: Trump Will Strip Protections from Career Civil Servants, Stephen Miller Says
WaPo: Elon Musk’s DOGE to be sued within minutes of Trump inauguration for allegedly failing to comply with a 1972 law governing executive branch advisory committees
Early Data Points
Forced resignations at State: “Scores of senior career diplomats are resigning from the State Department effective at noon on Monday after receiving instructions to do so from President-elect Donald Trump’s aides, three U.S. officials familiar with the matter said.”
Gov’t scientists hunker down: “Agencies and unions have put in place new guardrails designed to limit political interference in government research.”
Sign of the times: “The New York Times contacted more than two dozen of Mr. Trump’s most outspoken critics and perceived enemies to ask about their level of concern. Despite having spoken out in the past or having participated in proceedings against him, almost all declined to address their worries publicly, saying speaking out now could make them even more conspicuous targets.”
How To Pay Attention
Democracy advocate Ben Raderstorf offers four criteria for prioritizing where to allocate your limited attention for politics in the Trump II chaos:
Is the action tangible, actionable, and detailed? Or intangible, abstract, and vague?
Does this thing cause irreparable harm to real people?
Does this action target the opposition in a way that may cause anticipatory obedience?
Does this entrench the authoritarian faction in power and make it more difficult to dislodge?
Corruption Watch
WSJ: With a corporate merger review looming, executives of the owner of CBS are reportedly considering settling a bogus Trump lawsuit over a 60 Minutes‘ interview with Kamala Harris.
NYT: “President-elect Donald J. Trump and his family on Friday started selling a cryptocurrency token featuring an image of Mr. Trump drawn from the July assassination attempt, a potentially lucrative new business that ethics experts assailed as a blatant effort to cash in on the office he is about to occupy again.”
NYT: An Illustrated Guide to Trump’s Conflict of Interest Risks
The Perils Of Economic Concentration
Aileen Cannon’s Closing Scene
Former TPMer Tierney Sneed: “Judge Aileen Cannon suggested Friday she was not inclined to allow the Justice Department to share special counsel Jack Smith’s report on the classified documents case with Congress – at least for now.”
Surreal
Former TPMer Ryan Reilly recorded an unscripted moment Friday that serves as a fitting end to the Biden presidency:
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I was glad to hear of the preemptive pardons for the Jan 6 people, as well as Gen. Milley and Dr. Fauci. What a alternate universe we live in as of noon today where these people need protecting from their own government.
I will be avoiding the swearing in and just swearing, and happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day to all who celebrate!