Former Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield told CNN's “This Morning” on Thursday that the process by which the Biden administration considers pardoning people it believes President-elect Donald Trump might target ” “It's definitely a work in progress,” he said.
A partial transcription follows:
Casey Hunt: This week, President Biden announced a sweeping pardon for his son Hunter, sparking a wave of bipartisan backlash. But New Politico reports that this may not be the only pardon Biden grants. Jonathan Martin reports: “President Joe Biden's top aides are weighing whether to grant preemptive pardons to a wide range of current and former public officials who could be targeted upon President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House.'' House Democrats already have some ideas about who should be added to that list.
Congressman James Clyburn: Jack Smith's name is on my list for this chain. Liz Cheney is on my list. I think they should all be pardoned preemptively. Because I think some of the people that President Trump has brought into this government are going to seriously pursue these people, and we don't need to put them through that.
Hunt: Kate Bedingfield, how true do you think this is? How important does the White House think this is?
Bedfield: I think that's true. I think so. I mean, you probably heard President Biden and then-Vice President Harris discussing on the campaign trail what they believed Donald Trump's abuse of power meant. And I think they're taking every opportunity here to explore what options they have left in their term to protect those who might be exposed to that attack. So, yeah, I think it's definitely a serious process that they're going through. Let's see what the final result will be. But I imagine Biden sees this as an opportunity to make sure that people who don't deserve to be targeted in that way don't get targeted.
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