The hysteria over Biden's pardons seems extra ridiculous now
The hysteria over Biden's pardons seems extra ridiculous nowTrump's abuse of the pardon power makes everything else look like child's play.
This bonus Saturday edition of Public Notice is free thanks to paid subscribers. If you enjoy the newsletter but aren’t yet one, please click the button below to sign up and support our work Just 11 months ago, former President Joe Biden prepared to leave the White House by preemptively pardoning members of his family. Republicans were apoplectic. Leading the charge was Rep. James Comer, who has never met a person with the last name Biden who he didn’t think needed to be investigated — and has never given a single thought to investigating anyone named Trump. Comer penned an op-ed for Fox News about the “Biden Crime Family,” claiming that the Bidens made “over $30 million by selling access to the former president.” “President Biden will go down as the most corrupt president in US history,” Comer said at the time, boasting that an investigation he led at the House Oversight Committee “will be remembered as one of the most successful ever conducted by Congress.” But the hysteria over the Biden pardons — hysteria that looks ridiculous in hindsight given the Trump administration’s weaponization of the DOJ — was almost immediately obliterated by Donald Trump’s immediate pardoning of 1,600 Americans who rioted and assaulted police officers at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election result.
Weeks after his first round of J6 pardons, Trump let former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagoyevich, a De mocrat, off the hook for various crimes, including trying to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat when Trump’s arch-enemy ran for president. Since then, Trump has issued commutations or pardons to corrupt Republican politicians in Arkansas, California, Ohio, Tennessee, New York, and Nevada, as well as dark web criminals, killer cops, aggressive abortion protesters, two swindling former business associates of Hunter Biden, a thieving Virginia sheriff, shady cryptocurrency barons who have lined his family’s bank accounts, Social Security and Medicare fraudsters, tax evaders, reality TV ripoff artists who campaigned for Trump, and a gun-toting rapper, among others. In mid-October, Trump issued a commutation for George Santos, the former New York congressman who lied about virtually everything in his life before turning to a litany of crimes that included money laundering and receiving unemployment payments while making $120,000 a year. After being pardoned, Santos posted a photo of himself at the Department of Justice, where he met with DOJ leadership, saying he was “happy to be working on reform.” In announcing Santos’s pardon, Trump noted that Santos was a Republican. He didn’t even pretend to have a justification on the merits. “At least Santos had the Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!” Trump posted on Truth Social. Trump on pardoning George Santos: "He was 100% for Trump ... You could blame the other side for not checking him out ... I have the right to do it."  Sat, 02 Aug 2025 00:14:49 GMT View on BlueskyTrump’s statement about Santos was instructive. Many presidential pardons have come with their fair share of controversy, just as many were issued to correct legitimate miscarriages of justice — or, as with Biden’s pardons of his family members, to protect people who faced the surety of politically-motivated prosecutions by incoming administrations. But the Santos commutation was simply one among many pieces of evidence that Trump has perverted the pardon power far beyond the most questionable actions of any other modern president, emboldening a diverse cast of corrupt politicians, anti-democratic activists, and outright criminals in a new American age of corruption and authoritarianism. This week, Trump pardoned 77 people who tried to overturn the 2020 election on his behalf, including Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, and others involved in fake electors schemes and even a breach of voting systems in Georgia. Ed Martin: "What this pardon does is help rescue the people who were hunted. The Biden administration hunted the alternate electors who were participating in our constitutional process in 2020 ... they were Trump supporters who believed in the Constitution."  Tue, 11 Nov 2025 13:18:08 GMT View on BlueskyThese pardons fall into the category of “cronies who tried to help Trump cling to power.” Another group of people let off the hook by Trump are those who properly suck up to him, like Blagojevich, Santos, and Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business associate who was convicted of ripping off a Native American tribe to the tune of roughly $60 million. Archer turned on the Bidens, testifying before Congress as part of Republican efforts to impeach the former president. Finally, there are those who help the president and his family to accumulate obscene amounts of wealth. That’s where Changpeng Zhao, the recently-pardoned founder of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, comes in. Zhao was convicted of allowing Binance to be used as a money laundering front for terrorists and international criminals. He also happens to have substantial business ties to the Trump family’s growing cryptocurrency empire. The president pardoned him on October 21, stropping Zhao from having to serve one year and one day in prison. Pardons for business associatesIn a November 2 interview on 60 Minutes, Trump claimed he had no idea who Zhao was. He was probably lying, but if he truly has never heard of Zhao, his sons surely have. After all, $2 billion of the $5 billion in wealth that Trump’s sons, Eric and Don Jr., have accumulated through their cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial, came thanks to an investment from Zhao’s Binance. Pressed by 60 Minutes host Norah O’Donnell about Zhao, whose various crimes allowed terrorist organizations like Hamas to move cash around to carry out their own crimes, Trump claimed ignorance. “OK, are you ready?” Trump said. “I don’t know who he is. I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that and I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.” O'DONNELL: Why did you pardon Changpeng Zhao? TRUMP: Are you ready? I don't know who he is O'DONNELL: His crypto exchange Binance helped facilitate a $2b purchase of World Liberty Financial's stablecoin. And they you pardoned him. TRUMP: Here's the thing -- I know nothing about it  Mon, 03 Nov 2025 00:56:08 GMT View on BlueskyAfter a follow-up from O’Donnell on Zhao, Trump at least noted his sons’ interest in the fast-growing and increasingly lawless world of cryptocurrency, at the top of which sits Zhao. “Um, my sons are into it,” Trump said. “I’m glad they are because it’s probably a great industry, crypto. I think it’s good.”
Zhao represents one class of pardon recipient: the shady businessmen getting rich off the Trump administration, some of whom appear to be laundering their dirty money through Trump family businesses. The myriad connections between Zhao and the Trumps’ crypto business makes the “Biden Crime Family” look quaint in comparison. And it didn’t even take a congressional investigation from Comer’s Oversight Committee to uncover Zhao’s $2 billion bump to the Trumps’ World Liberty Financial. That was reported by the Wall Street Journal. It makes the $30 million in profits that claims the Biden family made off the former president’s influence look like chump change. Permission to steal the next electionWhile Trump’s use of pardons and commutations for those who help him and his family become fantastically wealthy is obviously very troubling, it’s not exactly surprising. Trump is notoriously corrupt, and his second administration clearly views last year’s election, in part, as permission to make as much corrupt cash as possible. What’s perhaps more troubling — from the perspective of Will we have a country after all of this? — is the second category of Trump pardon recipients, which was on full display this week.
Just after 2 am Monday, Trump’s pardon attorney, Ed Martin, announced that the president had pardoned 77 people who were directly involved in attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Some of those individuals served as the “alternate” slates of electors stood up by Republicans in states like Georgia to sign fake certificates purporting to give Electoral College votes to Trump — despite the fact that he had lost the popular vote in those states. Some, like Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, were charged in states like Georgia for their role in the fraudulent attempt to install Trump as president in 2020. But none were charged with federal crimes, so the pardons issued early Monday don’t apply to those state cases. So, why pardon them at all? On X, Martin helpfully explained, saying Trump had directed him to “look at those people who had been targeted by the Biden administration.” “We’ve been working hard to find them and one group that jumped up right away is the [2020] alternate electors and their affiliates who were targeted by Jack Smith and others,” Martin wrote, noting that Attorney General Pam Bondi and deputy attorney general Todd Blanche had “pushed us to do the right thing and fast.” Ed Martin: "What this pardon does is help rescue the people who were hunted. The Biden administration hunted the alternate electors who were participating in our constitutional process in 2020 ... they were Trump supporters who believed in the Constitution." Tue, 11 Nov 2025 13:18:08 GMT View on Bluesky“There are many more Americans who Biden targeted. And we’re working to help them,” Martin said. “God bless us all.” Among those pardoned on Monday is Misty Hampton, a small-town election official in Georgia who helped Trump campaign surrogates illegally access voting machines in their failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
Monday’s pardons were more than just the latest in Trump’s unprecedented use of pardon power to embolden corruption and consolidate power. They were also a signal that if you work to keep the president in power by any means necessary, he will have your back. It’s hard to imagine a more corrupt use of the presidential pardon than to set people free who made the president more wealthy, and tried to illegally keep him in office. This makes Trump’s use of pardons as corrupt and undemocratic as anything else he does. 5 Dem victories you missed while celebrating Mamdani's winRide the blue wave. Good Morning to all the wine moms! And Hispanic voters! And … Gen-Z men? Tuesday was a very, very good day for Democrats across the country. Obviously the most watched contest was in New York, where the mayoral election became a proxy battle in the Trump administration’s war on cities. Turns out, people resent having their tax dollars used to extort them into voting for someone odious — especially when they contribute tens of billions of dollars more they get back to the federal fisc every single year. And Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger’s resounding victories in the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections confirm that Republican policies are really, really unpopular. Guess everyone got tired of waiting for $2 gas and decided to skip right to transgender for everyone!  But across the country, there were dozens of down-ballot races where Democrats cleaned up. Let’s enjoy five! 1. Virginia House of DelegatesIt’s not just Gov. Glenn Youngkin who will be packing his fleece vest and leaving Richmond — 27 percent of Republicans in the commonwealth’s House of Delegates will be heading home as well. Democrats flipped 13 seats, increasing their total from 51 to 64, almost a supermajority. That’s the best showing for Democrats in the chamber since 1987. With the GOP’s desultory performance Tuesday, Democrats now are almost certain to gerrymander Virginia’s congressional maps before the 2026 election, netting Democrats three or possibly four seats.   Democrats won every single close race, flipping four seats in districts won by Trump and nine in districts won by Harris — a major accomplishment for Abigail Spanberger and the Virginia Democratic Party. In Northern Virginia’s HD30, newcomer John McAuliffe bested incumbent Geary Higgins, outraising him three to one. In the 22 years since it was created, the district has never been represented by a Democrat. Just two years ago, Higgins coasted to a six-point victory and Trump won it by a point. This year McAuliffe edged out Higgins by two. Similarly, in HD66, which encompasses parts of Loudoun and Fairfax Counties, Republican incumbent Bobby Orrock was bested by Democratic challenger Nicole Cole. Just two years ago, Orrock won by eleven points. This week he lost by upwards of four. In HD86, Republican incumbent A.C. Cardoza, who won by 13 percent in 2023, lost by seven to Democrat Virgil Thornton — a 20 point swing! By any measure, that’s a blue wave. 2. Miami mayoral raceNo major metropolitan area has moved more to the right in the Trump era than Miami. In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the city by 40 percent. Eight years later, Kamala Harris margin was just one point. Local politics has been dominated by Republicans for decades, with only one Democratic mayor since 1993. But this week, for the first time in ages, Democrats had a turnout advantage in Miami, and it paid off. Miami’s mayoral race goes to a runoff if no candidate tops 50 percent. On Tuesday, Democratic County Commissioner Eileen Higgins came in first with 36 percent. She’ll go to a runoff against former police chief Emilio Gonzalez, who was endorsed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and leaned hard into his MAGA bona fides. Despite spending over $700,000, Gonzalez trailed Higgins, getting just 19 percent of the vote, and narrowly besting third place finisher Ken Russell, a Democratic former city commissioner. Taken together, Higgins and Russell’s votes totaled 54 percent. If Democrats can maintain their momentum through the December 9 runoff, Higgins will be the new mayor of Miami — a massive sea change from the past two mayoral elections, where Republican Francis Suarez (who is term-limited out) netted 86 and 79 percent of the vote. And, in case anyone had trouble reading the room, Miami voters resoundingly approved local charter amendments barring gerrymandering and term limits. 3. Georgia Public Service CommissionGeorgia can feel like fools gold for liberals. Sure, it has two Democratic senators. But no Democrat has won statewide in a local election since 2006. And so it’s especially notable that Democrats Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard not only flipped two seats on the Public Service Commission, but dominated them.  Hubbard defeated recently appointed commissioner Fitz Johnson, and Alicia Johnson defeated longtime Commissioner Tim Echols, who served on the body since 2011. Johnson will be the first Black woman to serve in statewide elected office in Georgia. Buoyed by anger over rising power costs, both Democrats cracked 60 percent of the vote — an ominous sign for the Georgia Republican Party as it heads into 2026, where it aims to defeat Sen. John Ossoff and defend its hold on the state house with Gov. Brian Kemp term-limited out. Democrats massively improved their performance across the state, but particularly in the suburbs and with rural Black voters, triumphing in counties Trump took by large margins, including one he won by 30 percent. This election produced some of the wildest individual county results in recent memory. Paulding County, a very GOP-leaning suburb which has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1980 and backed Donald Trump by 24 points, voted for both Johnson and Hubbard. Early County, a small, very Republican county in South Georgia which backed Trump by 12 percent in 2024, gave Johnson and Hubbard a 28 percent margin of victory. In Turner County, both Democrats won by five points, after Donald Trump carried it by 29 percent last year. This should terrify the state GOP, which might have been tempted to write off 2020 as a fluke. In reality, Georgia is still very much a purple state. 3. Mississippi special electionsIt takes a lot to get the conservatives on the Fifth Circuit to throw out a state’s legislative map for being too racist. But after the last census, Mississippi Republicans managed to do it. The court ordered the state to redraw its maps and hold special elections, which it did this week. These elections were by no means automatic Democratic pickups — Republican legislators still tried their best to give Republicans a fighting chance. And still, in Northern Mississippi’s Senate District 2, longtime community activist Theresa Isom crushed her Republican opponent by 26 points, besting Harris’s margin by 20. Isom even ran 10 points ahead of gubernatorial candidate Brandon Presley, whose 2023 loss still represented the best performance this century by a Democrat at the top of the ticket. A bit further south, Democrat Justin Crosby won his Harris +1 seat by five points, despite being massively out-raised, defeating popular Republican incumbent John Lancaster. Even sweeter, former Hattiesburg mayor Johnny Dupree won District 45 by 42 percent, outrunning Harris by 17 points. With Dupree and Isom’s victories, Mississippi Democrats broke the GOP’s supermajority in the state senate for the first time in 13 years. In fact, Mississippi Democrats have had major momentum this year, picking up seven mayor’s races and close to a hundred alderman (what they call city council) seats in June. 5. Maine voters return mail voting restrictions to senderWith Sen. Susan Collins up for re-election and the gubernatorial race wide open, Maine Republicans have turned to the party’s favorite electoral strategy: restricting access to the ballot. The Maine GOP bankrolled a ballot initiative for a constitutional amendment which would have required voter ID to cast a ballot, eliminated two days of early voting, capped drop boxed at one per municipality, and barred disabled voters from automatically receiving absentee ballots. The effort was doomed from the jump. First, asking voters to amend their state constitution to enshrine cartoonishly evil things into law tends to turn people off. (Ask the Ohio GOP.) Second, if you are going to make the ask, you would do well to time it to coincide with a national panic over “ballot integrity” stoked by your party’s standard-bearer. Instead the Maine GOP dropped it during an off-year election where Attorney General Pam Bondi has promised that election tampering is over. In the event, just 26 percent of Maine voters supported the amendment, and opposition to it may have even juiced turnout. With no major races on the ballot, the “no” side racked up 71 percent of the total votes Kamala Harris did in 2024 — enough to pass a “red flag” gun law! Bonus round: What we’re not gonna do is…While Mamdani romped to victory in New York City, Democrats in next-door in Nassau County were among the few who actually did worse this election cycle than last. Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman cruised to reelection, winning by 12 points after barely squeaking it out in 2021. While Democrats did pick up one seat in the legislature, they actually seem to be losing ground in a county which Trump won by five points in 2024 and lost in both 2020 and and 2016. The knives were already out for New York Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs, who also heads the Nassau County Democratic Party, since he refused to endorse Mamdani. And Tuesday’s lackluster showing in his own back yard will make those knives even sharper. In short, Tuesday night was a resounding blue wave across the country. Voters tuned out the Republican distraction machine and turned up for candidates who actually stood for something. Enough doomscrolling! Time to get off our asses and get to work. That’s it for this weekWe’ll be back with more Monday. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend. |
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