Biden can’t pardon Trump on New York hush money charges
- New York governor, a Democrat, unlikely to issue pardon
- Georgia’s system gives pardon power to a five-member board
- GOP senator says Biden should pardon Trump on federal charges
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 30: Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower on May 30, 2024 in New York City. The former president was found guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. Trump has now become the first former U.S. president to be convicted of felony crimes.(Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
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(NewsNation) — When it comes to his felony conviction in New York, former President Donald Trump won’t be able to turn to President Joe Biden for a pardon or be able to pardon himself if he returns to the White House.
The conviction on 34 felony counts is on state charges, and the only person who could issue a pardon is the governor of New York, Democrat Kathy Hochul.
Nearly one year ago, former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara told Newsweek that the likelihood of Hochul pardoning Trump if he is convicted “is even lower than the likelihood of Biden doing the same.”
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, earlier this month said President Biden should preemptively pardon Trump in the federal cases and that Biden “made an enormous error” by not pressuring New York prosecutors into dropping the hush money case.
Romney said it would have been a good political move for Biden.
“Had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him,” he told MSNBC. “Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy.”
In Georgia, where Trump faces racketeering charges for allegedly trying to subvert the state’s 2020 election count, the president can’t lobby the governor. Pardons in Georgia come from the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, a five-member body empowered by the state constitution.
A presidential pardon would be in play in the two federal cases targeting Trump: the mishandling of classified documents in Florida and trying to obstruct efforts to retrieve them, and conspiring to obstruct the 2020 election results in Washington, D.C. He’s pleaded not guilty in both cases, and both trials are on hold.
