As most of you recall, when Donald Trump was indicted in four separate federal cases, there were a lot of questions about Joe Biden pardoning him because he is a former president.
According to Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT), Joe Biden made a significant mistake by not doing so.
Talking Points…
- Donald Trump cases
- Romney says Biden made 'enormous error'
- Analysis
Currently, Trump is on trial in the hush-money case and it has become quickly apparent that this case is put together with matchsticks and Elmer's glue. The statute of limitations ran out on the misdemeanor charges that would have typically been pursued in a case such as this, so Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg was forced to create felony charges, which still have not been fully explained to the jury.
Donald Trump also has two cases being prosecuted by Special Counsel Jack Smith: the classified documents case and the January 6 election interference case. Both of these cases are currently on hold due to Trump's pending case before the Supreme Court on presidential immunity. While I do not believe Trump will get blanket immunity, SCOTUS is likely to kick the case back to the lower courts for a ruling on the acts by Trump as crimes, then it will head back to SCOTUS, so I am not expecting either of these cases to be in the courtroom before the election.
The final case is the Georgia RICO case brought by Fulton County DA Fani Willis. Willis has her own legal problems, so this case has also been delayed, and no current trial date has been set. This case can also be tied to presidential immunity, and of all the judges that Trump has gone before, Judge McAfee appears to be the most level-headed and fair judge, so I am not expecting this case to hit a courtroom until all these other matters are settled.
Joe Biden could have pardoned Trump in any of these cases, but he chose to let them play out. Knowing how Donald Trump has parlayed these cases into fundraising gold, Biden could have cut that off at the path, but he chose to allow the cases to move forward, which Romney believes was a significant miscalculation on his part. He stated:
"He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward.
"It was a win-win for Donald Trump."
Romney called this an "enormous error" on the part of Joe Biden. Romney believes this was an opportunity for Biden to try to unify the country, but he fed right into the narrative that Trump was hoping for, and it has clearly backfired on Biden. Romney continued:
"You may disagree with this, but had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him. I'd have pardoned President Trump. Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy.
"I have been around for a while. If LBJ had been president, and he didn't want something like this to happen, he'd have been all over that prosecutor saying, 'You better not bring that forward, or I'm gonna drive you out of office.'"
Romney also took a shot at members of Congress attacking the legal system as well as GOP officials who are flocking to the trial to show support for Donald Trump. He stated:
"I think it's a terrible fault for our country to see people attacking our legal system — that's an enormous mistake.
"I think it's also demeaning for people to quite apparently try and run for vice president by donning a red tie and standing outside the courthouse. It's just — I'd have felt awkward."
Biden always took the position that nobody is above the law to justify not pardoning Trump, but we all know the real reason. I have firmly believed from the outset that Democrats were hoping that Trump would win the nomination, then these cases would hit, and Trump would be taken out of the race by a guilty verdict, but that does not now seem likely. Even if Trump loses this Bragg case in court, it appears to be ripe to be overturned on appeal, which will make the entire Democrat Party look foolish and ignite Trump supporters like we have never seen.
