Preemptive Pardons & Banana Republics
A preemptive pardon of Anthony Fauci and others would not be a legal action, but a political action that one might expect in Equatorial Guinea
News that President Biden is contemplating issuing “preemptive pardons” of Dr. Anthony Fauci and others, even though they have not been charged with crimes, reminded me of an African dictator I have long considered to be one of the most colorful and bizarre in the world—namely, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has served as the second President of Equatorial Guinea since 1982, three years after he staged a coup against his uncle.
The Equatorial Guinea constitution provides Obiang sweeping powers, including the right to rule by decree, effectively making his government a legal dictatorship. He has also placed family members in key government positions. In other words, Obiang’s personal preferences in public affairs are the law.
A “preemptive pardon” is not a legal action and has no legal precedent. It is a purely political action that is based on the false proposition that President Trump will, once in office, possess the power to initiate federal investigations without having to adhere to legal procedures and rules of evidence.
Because Democrats and their friends in the media have conditioned millions of Americans to believe that Trump is an inherently defective authoritarian, the Biden Administration may be tempted to believe that it can get away with such a crass political maneuver.
This is a variation of the same gambit the Democrats deployed when they impeached Trump for merely requesting, in July 2019, that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy investigate Joe Biden’s business activities in Ukraine. When this request came to light, Democrats and their friends in the media acted as though the mere request was an outrage, even though there was a mountain of evidence that the Bidens had, since 2014, participated in a spectacularly corrupt scheme in Ukraine for which they had received millions of dollars.
Five years after the Democrats in the House initiated impeachment proceedings against President Trump, President Biden pardoned his son for “offenses Hunter Biden has committed or may have committed or taken part in" between January 1, 2014, and December 1, 2024.”
Any “preemptive pardon” issued by President Biden should be viewed as the same species of corrupt political action, and not as a lawful act.
If the courts recognize a preemptive pardon then it’s a done deal. It all comes down to individual judges rulings. We no longer live under the rule of law and haven’t for decades.
A case should be brought to SCOTUS on an emergency basis challenging the pardons.
The framers of the Constitution despised corruption in government and never intended that the presidential pardon power be used to cover up crimes committed by a corrupt president and his family and associates.