In his inaugural interview following his ascension to the presidency, Donald Trump launched pointed criticisms against his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
During a discussion with Fox News at the White House, Trump expressed disappointment that Biden did not extend a pardon to himself. This comment arose in response to inquiries regarding the preemptive pardons Biden granted to family members and some of Trump’s notable adversaries.
The interview was broadcast on Fox News on Wednesday at 9 PM (local time). “This individual is distributing pardons to everyone,” Trump remarked to Sean Hannity during their dialogue in the White House. “The ironic, perhaps unfortunate, aspect is that he did not pardon himself. When you examine the situation, it all revolves around him,” he continued.
These statements from the president followed Biden’s issuance of several pardons in the closing hours of his presidency on Monday. The pardons were announced after Trump declared his intention to seek “retribution” against those he views as adversaries, utilizing his presidential powers during his campaign.
The Republican figure criticized Biden’s advisors, stating, “Joe Biden received very poor advice, as he has in all matters… Joe Biden has extremely poor advisers. Someone advised him to grant pardons to everyone except himself,” Trump asserted. When questioned about whether Congress should investigate Biden, the president indicated that he would defer that decision to Congress.
Trump asserted that he had the opportunity to pardon himself. During the interview, he reiterated that he was presented with the option to issue a pardon for himself but chose not to. “I was presented with the option. They asked me, ‘Sir, would you like to pardon everyone, including yourself?’ I responded, ‘I will not pardon anyone. We did nothing wrong,’” Trump declared.
He proceeded to discuss the legal challenges he encountered during his time away from office. “I endured four years of torment due to the unscrupulous individuals we had to contend with. I experienced four years of torment,” Trump remarked regarding his legal struggles. “I expended millions of dollars on legal fees, and I emerged victorious. However, I achieved this through a difficult process. It is quite challenging to assert that others should not endure similar experiences. It is indeed very difficult to make that claim.”
He also defended his decision to pardon nearly all of the approximately 1,500 individuals charged in relation to the January 6 riots at the Capitol, which caused significant upheaval in 2021. “The majority of these individuals were completely innocent, alright? Setting that aside, these individuals have suffered immensely for a prolonged period,” Trump stated, further noting that “it would be exceedingly burdensome to navigate through the cases of roughly 1,500 charged individuals.”
“Some of those interactions with law enforcement were indeed true, but they involved very minor incidents, alright? You are aware that these events are often exaggerated by a few disingenuous commentators on CNN. They were indeed very minor incidents. And it was time,” he concluded.
