Presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden has declared that he will not pardon President Donald Trump if elected to the White House this November.
Appearing Thursday on MSNBC’s The Last Word with host Lawrence O’Donnell, the former Vice President suggested he would show no mercy on Trump and go after him to the fullest extent of the law.
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Transcript of the interview:
QUESTIONER: Would you be willing to commit to not pulling a President [Gerald] Ford and giving Donald Trump a pardon under the pretense of healing the nation? In other words, are you willing to commit to the American ideal that no one is above the law?
JOE BIDEN: Absolutely, yes. I commit.
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: And this is helping us get in all the more questions. So, that’s a commitment. Mr. Vice President, you’re saying that where ever the investigative trail might lead, whether that be an investigative trail pursued by the Justice Department against Trump officials, Trump associates, administration officials — whether those are congressional investigations — that’s hands-off for you, you’re not going to say, “Let’s just let bygones be bygones”?
BIDEN: It’s hands-off, completely.Look, the attorney general of the United States is not the president’s lawyer — it’s the people’s lawyer. And you remember when you were there with Pat Moynihan. We never saw anything like the prostitution of that office, like we see it today. It is not something the president is entitled to do, to direct a prosecution and/or decide to drop a case. That’s not the president’s role or responsibility. It’s a dereliction of his duty.
