Former Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield said Thursday on CNN “This Morning” that there was “absolutely” a process underway to consider pardons for people the Biden administration believes President-elect Donald Trump might target.
Partial transcript as follows:
KASIE HUNT: President Biden sparked a wave of bipartisan backlash this week, announcing the sweeping pardon of his son, Hunter. But according to New Politico reporting, it may not be the only pardon that Biden grants. Jonathan Martin reports this. ‘President Biden’s senior– president, Joe Biden’s senior aides, are conducting a vigorous internal debate over whether to issue preemptive pardons to a range of current and former public officials who could be targeted with President elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.’ One House Democrat already has some ideas about who should be on that list.
REP. JAMES CLYBURN: Jack Smith name is on my list in this chain. Liz Cheney is on my list. I think that they all should be preemptively pardoned because I think there are people who Trump may bring into this government who will go after these people in a serious way, and there’s no need to subject them to that.
HUNT: Kate Bedingfield, how real do you think this is and how how important does the White House see this?
BEDINGFIELD: I think it’s real. I think they are–. I mean, look, you heard President Biden and then Vice President Harris on the campaign trail talk about what they believed Donald Trump’s abuses of power would mean. And I think that they’re taking every opportunity here to explore the options they have left in the time that they have left in office to protect people who may be subject to that attack. So, yes, I think it’s I think it is absolutely a serious process they’re undergoing. We’ll see what the ultimate outcome is. But I would imagine that Biden views this as an opportunity to ensure that people who don’t deserve to be targeted in that way aren’t.
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