When Donald Trump sat down with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on the third day of his second term, the president had plenty to say about pardons, specifically his immediate predecessor’s use of the tool.
“This guy went around giving everybody pardons,” the Republican said in reference to Joe Biden.
There was some irony to those comments. After all, roughly 48 hours earlier, Trump issued roughly 1,500 pardons and commuted the sentences of 14 Jan. 6 criminals, including violent felons who were in prison for assaulting police officers. As his first term came to an ignominious end, he similarly scrambled to issue a series of similarly scandalous pardons to his political allies.
On the fourth day of his second term, the Republican kept the trend going. NBC News reported:
President Donald Trump signed an executive order pardoning 23 anti-abortion-rights activists Thursday, one day before he is expected to address thousands of anti-abortion-rights demonstrators at their annual march in Washington. ‘Twenty-three people were prosecuted, they should not have been prosecuted,’ Trump said at the Oval Office signing ceremony Thursday, noting that ‘many of them’ are elderly. ‘This is a great honor to sign. They will be very happy.’
That last point is very likely true: When criminals are pardoned, they tend to be “very happy.” But that doesn’t mean the pardons have merit.
Roughly 30 years ago, as abortion providers and their patients faced intensifying violence, Democrats approved the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (often known by its acronym, the FACE Act). The goal was simple: Opponents of reproductive rights were free to exercise their First Amendment rights and protest, but they couldn’t commit acts of violence or prevent people from accessing legal medical services. The Biden administration enforced the law, prosecuting and successfully convicting people who were found to have blocked access to reproductive health clinics. The Republican incumbent — a longtime proponent of abortion rights before entering GOP politics — wiped the slate clean for 23 such criminals on the eve of the 52nd annual March for Life in the nation’s capital. In the process, Trump offered yet another reminder about what he thinks the pardon power is all about. Historically, the idea behind presidential pardons was to allow a chief executive to right a wrong or to protect the innocent. For Trump, however, pardons are effectively party favors to be handed out to people he likes, agrees with and/or sees as political allies.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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