President-elect Trump’s senior adviser and former personal lawyer Alina Habba predicted on Friday that after he granted his son clemency, President Biden will issue more pardons in the days to come.
Her comments come nearly a week after Biden announced he would pardon his son Hunter Biden of federal gun and tax charges. He cited Trump’s rhetoric around retaliation as a reason for his reversal of position, as the president-elect prepares to take office in January.
“I’ve never seen him smile so much,” Habba said of Biden, during an interview with Fox News’s Jesse Watters. “And he’s saying, ‘My hands are off, everybody. I’m still sitting here handing out pardons like they’re tic tacs, and then we’ll be done, and President Trump will be in, but at least I’ll have protected my own.'”
“He’s going to pardon himself. He’s going to pardon his family, “Shifty Schiff,” Nancy Pelosi, and anybody else who had their hands in the cookie jar,” she predicted, referring to Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), among others.
In recent weeks, Biden has spoken with his senior team members and officials, including the White House counsel’s office, about issuing preemptive pardons to figures who have been critical of Trump, according to a source familiar with the matter. Some who have been seen under consideration are Schiff, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci.
“I do not doubt it. So, all we’re hearing is leaks of something we already knew,” Habba said in response to the news. “They lied to us during the election, the American people saw through it, and now here we are, pardon after pardon will be handed out, and I assure you of that.”
Some Democrats have been somewhat receptive to the idea, while another contingent — including many of Biden’s allies in Congress — has forcefully rejected it.
“The way to stand up to a bully, like Donald Trump, is not to run and hide. It’s to confront him,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told CNN on Friday.
“I believe the way to confront Donald Trump is to put together a defense team, and a defense fund. I’d be happy to join it,” he added later. “And what we should do is support those people, who are potentially in jeopardy.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, among others, has supported the potential effort, pointing to Trump’s intention to nominate loyalist Kash Patel as FBI director, who has in the past made comments about going after the president-elect’s enemies.
“I think that would be a good idea. In fact, I think he should take a look at the book his FBI nominee Kash Patel wrote,” Nadler said. “He should probably pardon everyone on that list.”
Biden’s decision to pardon Hunter Biden has rattled Washington and came as a surprise to many Democrats who have publicly criticized the decision. The president and White House had previously pledged that he would stay out of his son’s legal affairs.
Following the action, some in the party have pushed for more pardons, including one for Trump in his New York hush money case — where he was convicted earlier this year of 34 counts of falsifying business records.
“I think that it’s undeniable that the case against Hunter Biden was really politically motivated,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) told ABC’s “The View” earlier this week. “But I also think it’s true that the trial in New York for Trump was political as well, too.”
“In both cases I think a pardon is appropriate and I really think collectively that America’s confidence in these types of institutions have been damaged by these kinds of cases, and we cannot allow these types of institutions to be weaponized against our political opponents,” he added.
Outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va) and Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) have also signaled support for such a move.
