WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:02.640 So much big stuff happened over the course of the 2 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:07.879 last twenty four I guess thirty six hours. That really 3 00:00:07.919 --> 00:00:11.960 forty eight hours, with the Monday morning pardons from President Biden, 4 00:00:12.160 --> 00:00:17.079 the enormous flurry of executive orders signed by President Trump. 5 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:19.839 I'm not even really sure where to start. I think, though, 6 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:25.440 I want to go through some of the pardons, both 7 00:00:25.480 --> 00:00:27.559 the pardons on the Biden side and the pardons on 8 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:36.399 the Trump side. Now, let's let's go into it. The 9 00:00:36.439 --> 00:00:43.240 pardons starting on the Biden side. So President Biden early 10 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:47.880 yesterday morning pardons and has a big to do about it, 11 00:00:47.920 --> 00:00:52.759 has a big public statement on Twitter about it, declares 12 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:55.399 that he's going to pardon Anthony Fauci and then all 13 00:00:55.399 --> 00:01:00.200 the members of the January sixth Committee, and make this 14 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:04.760 big deal about what wonderful, heroic and dedicated public servants 15 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:06.359 they all are. And it's a shame that he has 16 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:09.959 to issue this pardon. But there were threats against them 17 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.120 that he's just trying to protect them from, you know, 18 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:19.480 politicized prosecutions from the Trump side, And you know, these 19 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:23.799 were wonderful, heroic public servants who I don't think committed 20 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:26.920 any crimes whatsoever. But this is to provide them with protection. 21 00:01:30.519 --> 00:01:37.519 Now you have all that, but then later on in 22 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:43.840 the day, you have with with far less fanfare, far 23 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:49.000 more sheepishly, without a lot of stirmin drong and no 24 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:53.719 trumpets blaring, a pardon issued for a bunch of Joe 25 00:01:53.799 --> 00:01:58.200 Biden's family members for any criminal activities that may or 26 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:01.359 not any federal offense that may have taken place from 27 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:06.319 January first onward January first of twenty fourteen onward. And 28 00:02:06.439 --> 00:02:12.479 yet again, this date, January first, twenty fourteen, very specifically 29 00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:19.159 chosen lines up perfectly with the Hunter Biden pardon. I 30 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:22.840 feel sure that Hunter's pardon would have happened today except 31 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:26.000 for the fact that Hunter was looking at you know, 32 00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:29.319 his sentencing was coming up in one of his criminal 33 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:33.680 cases in December, so President Biden gave him his pardon, 34 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:37.840 you know, as a nice little early Christmas president. Now, 35 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:44.199 what's going on with the Biden family. Well, let's clarify 36 00:02:44.240 --> 00:02:50.879 what's going on. We've done this segment a lot on 37 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:53.360 the show, and probably this is the last time we're 38 00:02:53.400 --> 00:02:56.479 going to do it because Biden is now the ex president. 39 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:04.840 He is now a very old old man. I'm betting 40 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:07.240 the next time we see Biden, He's going to look 41 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:09.919 so horrible that we're all going to guess if we 42 00:03:09.919 --> 00:03:16.000 see him, and this is his last shot to kind 43 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.919 of protect his family on the way out, his family 44 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:26.479 who was very very possibly involved with criminal activity, or 45 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:31.120 if not criminal, at the very least incredibly sleazy and 46 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:37.599 shady activity. What was the business. The business that Hunter 47 00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:45.520 and Jim were involved in was getting foreign companies to 48 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:50.400 give them money, with the understanding being that they would 49 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:56.680 get positive American foreign policy advantages to those companies by 50 00:03:56.759 --> 00:03:59.280 virtue of the fact that Hunter's last name is Biden, 51 00:03:59.319 --> 00:04:03.400 Jim's last name is Biden. They were selling access and 52 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:08.719 political favor from Joe Biden. That's what they were selling. 53 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:14.919 It's impossible that Joe didn't know that's what they were doing. 54 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:23.160 There's no way Joe met clients of Hunters. Joe was. 55 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:27.560 He clearly knew that there was money stuff going on. 56 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:30.399 We have checks written from Jim Biden to Joe Biden, 57 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:33.279 like two hundred thousand dollars checks for loan repayment. Loan 58 00:04:33.319 --> 00:04:37.519 repayment allegedly a scheme so unsophisticated that basically it's just 59 00:04:37.959 --> 00:04:40.439 Jim giving Joe Biden two hundred thousand dollars just writing 60 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:42.279 on the bottom of the check in the memo line 61 00:04:42.360 --> 00:04:46.079 loan repayment, because then it's not weird. So that was 62 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:49.439 the business. That was the deal. That was the long 63 00:04:49.480 --> 00:04:57.199 and short of it. Sell access to Joe Biden at best, 64 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:00.959 sell the appearance of access in the best case scenario. 65 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:03.600 What can you say about this, Well, the very best 66 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:08.360 case scenario that you can say about all this is 67 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:14.240 that it was shady and sleazy and corrupt. The best 68 00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:17.519 case you can say is that they were selling the 69 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:20.319 appearance of access even though they couldn't actually get Biden 70 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:22.839 to do anything. Except for this, Joe Biden was often 71 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:28.079 the head of Obama administration foreign policy. The time frame 72 00:05:28.120 --> 00:05:32.680 when these pardons run it covers twenty fourteen to January. 73 00:05:33.160 --> 00:05:37.759 It includes in its ambit January of twenty fourteen through 74 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:42.360 twenty seventeen, the end of Biden's second term as Vice president, 75 00:05:43.079 --> 00:05:46.560 when he was overseeing foreign policy for countries like Ukraine. 76 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:50.199 One of the big things the Obama administration was trying 77 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:54.800 to promote through its European and especially it's Eastern European 78 00:05:54.800 --> 00:06:00.759 foreign policy was various kinds of anti corruption effort. Hey 79 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:04.439 Eastern Europe, you get American foreign aide, you benefit from 80 00:06:04.759 --> 00:06:06.680 the United States or any of you countries that are 81 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:10.600 not directly in the ambit of Russia. You need to 82 00:06:10.680 --> 00:06:15.600 clean up your government corruption, clean up your government practices, 83 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:25.199 et cetera. So what seems to have happened, and the 84 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:27.879 Barisma case with Hunter Biden seems to be the classic 85 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:31.360 example of this. You had these countries where anti corruption 86 00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:38.279 efforts were taking place. Sorry sounding like OURFKA junior right now, 87 00:06:38.920 --> 00:06:42.399 you have these countries where anti corruption efforts are taking place. 88 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:48.079 The Biden administration, the Obama administration rather is pushing these 89 00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:52.839 anti corruption efforts. These individual companies that maybe they are corrupt, 90 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:59.199 maybe they're not, want to keep themselves protected from crackdowns 91 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:04.759 pushed by the Obama administration and directed by the government, 92 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:09.480 so they give money to Hunter, they give money to 93 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:14.639 Jim so that their companies aren't subject to various kinds 94 00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:18.920 of anti corruption investigations. And that's precisely what happened with Barisma, 95 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:21.519 the Ukrainian energy company that Hunter Biden was on the 96 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:29.240 board of. So it's very it's a very clear setup. Now, 97 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:34.879 were crimes committed in all of this, I think so 98 00:07:37.399 --> 00:07:41.920 I think there is very good evidence that money laundering 99 00:07:41.959 --> 00:07:48.199 took place. These different Biden family members, Hunter, Jim, etcetera. 100 00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:53.480 Were setting up all these different companies and corporations and 101 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:56.680 lcs and this and that to shift the money around 102 00:07:56.759 --> 00:07:58.480 to this to this, to this to this to this, 103 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:03.920 to make the trail of money extremely difficult to track. 104 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:07.199 I don't know. I've never had to do that for 105 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:10.399 any of my employment. Just hey, direk deposit there, we 106 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:19.000 go easypsy have a salary. The likelihood that Jim and 107 00:08:19.360 --> 00:08:25.079 Hunter Biden were in violation of what's called farah, the 108 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:30.319 federal registration of the Foreign Agent Registration Act. That's what 109 00:08:30.360 --> 00:08:34.039 it is, Foreign Agent Registration Act. Basically, if you are 110 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:37.360 an American citizen and you are working, your work is 111 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:40.480 being done as an advocate, as a lobbyist basically on 112 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:43.559 behalf of another country. That's okay to do, but you 113 00:08:43.639 --> 00:08:49.960 have to register as a foreign agent. Jim and Joe A, 114 00:08:50.039 --> 00:08:53.679 Jim and Hunter never did. I think it's very likely 115 00:08:53.720 --> 00:08:58.639 that they committed crimes in that regard. They were working 116 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:02.039 on behalf of all these different companies, in all these 117 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:07.320 different companies in foreign countries. So and a lot of 118 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:12.360 this activity was happening from twenty fourteen to twenty seventeen. 119 00:09:15.200 --> 00:09:20.200 So Joe, I think knew one hundred percent that this 120 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:23.159 was going on. He had to have known the whole 121 00:09:23.399 --> 00:09:27.639 basis for this business, that this whole business scheme that 122 00:09:27.720 --> 00:09:33.120 Hunter and Jim were doing, Joe was the essential linchpin 123 00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:38.159 of it all. Without Joe as the product to be sold, 124 00:09:38.600 --> 00:09:41.960 the business doesn't work, It doesn't happen these other because 125 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:46.679 basically what was happening. You had clear money going one 126 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:51.360 way towards the bidens. You did not have a clear 127 00:09:51.399 --> 00:09:56.600 and obvious good or service going back the other way 128 00:09:56.720 --> 00:10:05.399 to those companies. So, as a result, Gym's off the hook. 129 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:08.360 Biden's other siblings are off the hook. And it's also 130 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:11.080 a question of like, were these other siblings, like other 131 00:10:11.159 --> 00:10:16.480 family members were in receipt of this money, so are 132 00:10:16.519 --> 00:10:20.360 they now part of a chain of the sort of 133 00:10:20.360 --> 00:10:25.679 the chain length of money being passed on that was 134 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:32.480 basically money laundering. Well, at this point, I wonder if 135 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:35.840 we're ever gonna really know all these Biden family members 136 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:42.960 get pardoned and as a result, none of them are 137 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:46.000 going to go to jail, None of them are gonna 138 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:48.200 get it prosecuted. Probably a lot of these crimes were 139 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:54.720 past the statute of limitations anyway. You know, a lot 140 00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:57.080 of this stuff was happening in twenty fourteen, twenty fifteen, 141 00:10:57.120 --> 00:10:59.200 twenty sixteen. You got to bring your charges for some 142 00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:01.559 of these things with in you know, five or six years, 143 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:05.279 and probably the statute of limitations had passed already for 144 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:12.159 a lot of this stuff. So we may be pasts that. 145 00:11:13.679 --> 00:11:16.159 And it's kind of the cherry on top of the 146 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:24.320 Sunday of the Biden era. I think the Left really, really, 147 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:31.080 really wanted to have this sense of moral superiority about 148 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:36.559 its governance, to say that Trump was a bad guy, 149 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:40.000 Trump was sleazy, Trump was corrupt, Trump did bad things, 150 00:11:40.200 --> 00:11:45.120 and January sixth being the worst thing of all, and 151 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:47.159 they wanted to be able to point to Biden as 152 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:50.080 let's have a return to normalcy, let's have a return 153 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:57.919 to responsible, good, decent Obamaian government. And what better way 154 00:11:57.960 --> 00:12:01.279 to return to the Obama model than by electing his 155 00:12:01.399 --> 00:12:03.720 vice president Joe Biden. What a good guy, what a 156 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.559 good solid man. And everyone bought into this idea that 157 00:12:06.600 --> 00:12:09.120 Joe Biden was a good guy because everyone felt sorry 158 00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:13.360 for him after the death of his son Bo. And 159 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:19.879 it turns out Biden is what he always was. A mediocrity, 160 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:31.639 a moral mediocrity, an intellectual mediocrity, a governing mediocrity. In fact, 161 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:34.159 when you and then when you elevate someone who's a 162 00:12:34.200 --> 00:12:38.399 mediocrity like that into these extremely high positions, he becomes 163 00:12:38.440 --> 00:12:42.720 far less, far worse than a mediocrity. He was a 164 00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:48.720 train wreck. He was a train wreck, he was corrupt, 165 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:54.879 he was venal, he was a jerk, and the simple 166 00:12:56.279 --> 00:13:02.759 venality of wanting money. Now he has to do this 167 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:06.440 embarrassing thing. And apparently their Democrat senators really ticked off 168 00:13:06.440 --> 00:13:08.120 at this. I don't know why they're ticked off, as 169 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:10.480 if that like the only reason you'd be ticked off 170 00:13:10.519 --> 00:13:16.039 is if you were surprised. I was not surprised at 171 00:13:16.240 --> 00:13:18.360 this pardon of the family members. I was sure it 172 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:20.200 was going to happen all along. It doesn't make any 173 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:23.120 sense to pardon Hunter and not pardon Jim. Jim was 174 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:29.279 doing the same stuff Hunter was doing. It's all the 175 00:13:29.320 --> 00:13:38.799 same stuff. Now when we return two things, One the 176 00:13:38.840 --> 00:13:44.559 benefits of being immune from prosecution. Two, how this could 177 00:13:44.679 --> 00:13:49.360 actually help facilitate a real investigation into what were the 178 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.639 Bidens actually doing all this time. That's next on the 179 00:13:51.720 --> 00:13:55.879 John Girardi Show. Two things I want to point out 180 00:13:55.879 --> 00:14:00.519 after these Hunter Biden pardons, and now President Trump has 181 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:04.320 issued similar partons to all the January sixth defendants. But 182 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:07.639 I want to talk about these two things with the 183 00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:12.320 Hunter Biden partons. One with the Hunter Biden parton, well, 184 00:14:12.360 --> 00:14:15.080 actually the rest of the Biden family, excuse me, the 185 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:20.200 rest of the Biden family pardons at least to two things. One, 186 00:14:20.679 --> 00:14:24.840 what does criminal immunity mean? The good and the bad? 187 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:27.960 So let's talk about what criminal immunity means that's good 188 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:31.679 and bad or maybe that's good for the person receiving 189 00:14:31.720 --> 00:14:36.399 it and bad as far as for them that they 190 00:14:36.480 --> 00:14:42.679 might have to now testify about stuff. So the left 191 00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:48.159 refuse the left has been so angry about the idea 192 00:14:48.279 --> 00:14:54.159 of immunity in the context of President Trump. Okay here, 193 00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:58.960 So President Trump's been going through this Manhattan Deal, his 194 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:04.159 prosecution in man for falsification of business records in furtherance 195 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:07.840 of some felony that we don't actually define with regards 196 00:15:07.879 --> 00:15:10.639 to the non disclosure agreement he got Stormy Daniels to sign, 197 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:13.679 which I still don't think he violated the law at 198 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:16.200 all with regards to it. I don't think it was. 199 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:19.039 I know it was not illegal to ask someone to 200 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:20.960 sign a non disclosure agreement. I know it was not 201 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:23.399 illegal for him not to report it as a campaign expense. 202 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:27.840 It's not a campaign expense. I'm not sure that it 203 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:34.519 was even unlawful to characterize, basically, to characterize his payment 204 00:15:34.679 --> 00:15:39.320 of money to Michael Cohen. So Stormy Daniels signs the 205 00:15:39.320 --> 00:15:41.440 non disclosure agreement, she says, I won't talk about this 206 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:45.039 affair that we allegedly had in exchange for money, Michael 207 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:49.559 Cohen pays her. Trump pays back Michael Cohen. Trump characterizes 208 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:52.720 the payments to Michael Cohen as attorney's fees rather than 209 00:15:52.759 --> 00:15:59.240 load repayment. That is the crime. Allegedly, It wasn't hush 210 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:03.320 money was the crime. No, it was characterizing his repayment 211 00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:08.480 to Michael Cohen as attorney's fees rather than loan repayment. 212 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:11.240 I'm not sure that it's even inaccurate to call it 213 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:17.159 attorney's fees, let alone to say that it's falsification of 214 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:27.080 business records and furtherance of a felony. Now, in all 215 00:16:27.159 --> 00:16:31.919 of that, in the midst of this, in the midst 216 00:16:31.919 --> 00:16:35.120 of Trump being found guilty by a jury in Manhattan 217 00:16:35.159 --> 00:16:40.440 over this, after the judge one Merchon, who was himself 218 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:43.919 a was he a Biden or a Harris donor? I 219 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:47.960 believe he was a Biden donor, like a small dollar donor, 220 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:51.960 which why a judge would do that seems beyond me. 221 00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:55.320 Just to give a little bit of money seems ridiculous. 222 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:00.720 And whose daughter, Judge Murchon's daughter was like a campaign 223 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:06.160 fundraiser for Kamala Harris. Judge Murchon ruled against Trump every 224 00:17:06.200 --> 00:17:08.079 single step of the way and the whole trial. He 225 00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:14.119 was ridiculous in ways that I think genuinely disadvantaged Trump 226 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:18.160 and led to his conviction. Allowed in evidence that was 227 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:23.920 not pertinent to the case, that was highly prejudicial against 228 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:27.599 Trump without really being probative towards the actual charge, Like 229 00:17:27.720 --> 00:17:31.559 that he brought Stormy. He allowed the prosecution to bring 230 00:17:31.640 --> 00:17:35.960 Stormy Daniels in to testify about their relationship. That wasn't 231 00:17:35.960 --> 00:17:39.599 the crime. The crime was did you falsify the business records? 232 00:17:39.640 --> 00:17:45.839 Did you miss characterize it as loan repayment versus legal fees? 233 00:17:47.880 --> 00:17:50.279 Her testifying about the nature of their relationship and then 234 00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:53.440 dropping all of a sudden without ever telling anyone before 235 00:17:54.119 --> 00:17:56.680 this new version of what their relationship was like, and 236 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:59.519 then saying that, oh, it was non consensual, which she 237 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:07.319 had never claimed at any point up to then. Anyway, 238 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:11.680 the jury finds Trump guilty. Trump's not actually convicted until 239 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:14.599 a sentence is entered against him. And between the jury 240 00:18:14.599 --> 00:18:18.119 finding him guilty and the sentencing, what do you know? 241 00:18:18.200 --> 00:18:24.279 The Supreme Court issues a new ruling on the immunity 242 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:28.720 that a president enjoys after leaving office. Basically, you cannot 243 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:33.759 prosecute a president for his official acts, and you cannot 244 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:39.799 use evidence of his official acts against him. You cannot 245 00:18:39.960 --> 00:18:47.920 use his official acts as evidence in a subsequent proceeding 246 00:18:47.960 --> 00:18:50.960 against the president. What's official acts? Well, that's not one 247 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:53.519 hundred percent clear one hundred percent of the time, But 248 00:18:53.599 --> 00:19:00.000 discussions with his cabinet, those are official acts. He is 249 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:07.200 immune from prosecution. And when we say immune from prosecution, 250 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:10.440 that the benefit of that is not just the benefit 251 00:19:10.480 --> 00:19:13.599 of you're not going to get convicted. The benefit of 252 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:18.279 immunity is a benefit of you don't even have to 253 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:21.759 face a trial. You don't even have to face an indictment. 254 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:27.759 You're not going to be subjected to any legal action whatsoever. 255 00:19:27.799 --> 00:19:31.160 You don't have to go through the stress, the worry, 256 00:19:31.400 --> 00:19:37.599 the anxiety, the difficulty of a trial. You don't have to. 257 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:53.400 So that's the beneficial side. That's the benefit of immunity. 258 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:58.400 That's precisely what Biden is wanting with all these pardons 259 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:05.519 he's issuing. Even for Anthony Fauci and Lynn Cheney and 260 00:20:05.559 --> 00:20:08.839 the January sixth Committee, a lot of people were trying 261 00:20:08.839 --> 00:20:11.519 to make the argument and had some decent arguments that 262 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:15.799 Lynn Cheney engaged in witness tampering, which would be a crime, 263 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:18.839 witness tampering for her work on the January sixth Committee 264 00:20:18.880 --> 00:20:20.480 to get people to change their stories to make them 265 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:27.160 more negative against Trump, which if true, could be criminal. Well, 266 00:20:27.240 --> 00:20:28.920 Lynn Cheney doesn't have to worry about any of that 267 00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:32.920 crap now she received a pardon from Biden, and that 268 00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:37.519 pardon gives her immunity. Not just like if she she'll 269 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:39.799 go to trial and during the trial they'll say, well, 270 00:20:39.839 --> 00:20:42.759 President Trump partoned her, so she's not going to get convicted. No, 271 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:46.079 the pardon prevents her from ever having to face an 272 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:49.160 indictment to begin with. It prevents her the same with 273 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:55.880 Anthony Fauci. That's the benefit of immunity. So here's President 274 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:59.079 Trump who actually has who has immunity from these things, 275 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:02.559 and Judge murch On just, eh, I ignore it. I'm 276 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:04.759 gonna continue with the sentencing in spite of the fact 277 00:21:04.759 --> 00:21:07.480 that a bunch of the evidence from your Manhattan trial 278 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:12.680 came from official acts or very arguably came from official acts. Now, 279 00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:14.519 I'm just gonna keep up. You can just carry on 280 00:21:14.599 --> 00:21:20.079 with our sentencing hearing. No, No, that's ridiculous. Trump is 281 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:23.880 being subjected to all these harms when he has immunity, 282 00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:26.839 including by the way, now that a sentence of no 283 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:29.519 time has been entered against President Trump, he is a 284 00:21:29.559 --> 00:21:33.279 convicted felon, and that puts limits on like there are 285 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:37.359 a bunch of foreign countries that don't let him travel 286 00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:40.920 that a lot of foreign countries will not let someone 287 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:43.359 into the country if they have a felony conviction in 288 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:45.720 their home country. So Trump's gonna have to go through 289 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:49.799 all this like rigmarole through the State Department, all this 290 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:53.799 diplomatic rigmarole for these different countries to grant an exception 291 00:21:54.279 --> 00:22:00.960 so that he can come travel to their countries. So anyway, 292 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:08.880 the Biden pardons are ridiculous. I think they in some 293 00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:11.240 cases they were needed because these people committed a bunch 294 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:14.480 of crimes. Now, when we return, I want to talk 295 00:22:14.519 --> 00:22:18.559 about is the power. Is the pardon power out of control? 296 00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:22.759 Should we amend the constitution to stop it or limit it? 297 00:22:22.839 --> 00:22:26.720 That's next on the John Girardi Show. We had a 298 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:31.000 flurry of pardons yesterday. President Trump issued pardons for I 299 00:22:31.079 --> 00:22:35.519 believe it was all of the January sixth defendants. President 300 00:22:35.599 --> 00:22:38.640 Biden issued pardons for the members of the January sixth 301 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:44.200 Committee and Lynn Cheney. He also issued pardons for a 302 00:22:44.200 --> 00:22:47.240 bunch of his family members. And I've gotten a lot 303 00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:52.079 of sort of common questions, and I'll give some common answers. 304 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:55.799 I guess to the pardon power, and I want to 305 00:22:55.839 --> 00:22:59.799 sort of publicly sort of speculate, roll around in my 306 00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:05.559 mind if the pardon power has gone too far so 307 00:23:06.839 --> 00:23:11.279 and should there be some amending of the Constitution with 308 00:23:11.319 --> 00:23:17.519 regards to the pardon power. Now, some people have asked me, 309 00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:22.400 how can President Biden pardon his family members who when 310 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:24.519 they haven't even been charged for any crimes yet, just 311 00:23:24.519 --> 00:23:26.680 just for anything they possibly could have done. That doesn't 312 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:29.279 seem right, That doesn't seem fair. And the answer is, well, yes, 313 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:34.759 that you can do that. You can pardon people for 314 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:40.200 stuff they haven't been charged with yet. The most famous 315 00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:46.200 instance of this probably was Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon 316 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:52.160 for anything having to do with Watergate. Nixon had been 317 00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:56.200 investigated for Watergate. There had been an impeachment inquiry about Watergate. 318 00:23:56.200 --> 00:24:00.839 The impeachment committee, I guess it was the House Shary Committee. 319 00:24:00.839 --> 00:24:06.039 The House committee investigating it had found a lot of evidence, 320 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:11.880 but he hadn't been subject to any criminal action whatsoever yet, right, 321 00:24:11.960 --> 00:24:15.599 no one had, you know, there was no prosecutors involved. 322 00:24:16.200 --> 00:24:18.880 Nixon was not subject to any kind of criminal action 323 00:24:19.599 --> 00:24:25.000 for Watergate as of yet. And Ford I think very wisely. 324 00:24:25.160 --> 00:24:28.599 I think this was a very wise decision on his part. 325 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:32.039 Ford basically said, we need to turn the page on 326 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:35.680 this episode of history as a country, and he just 327 00:24:35.799 --> 00:24:40.480 flat out pardoned Nixon for anything having to do with Watergate. 328 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:46.799 And that was that. Jimmy Carter had a similarly famous pardon. 329 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:51.160 He pardoned all the Vietnam War draft dodgers. He said, listen, 330 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:55.440 we need to turn the page on Vietnam. I'm just 331 00:24:55.480 --> 00:24:58.920 partoning everyone who you know, dodged the draft during the 332 00:24:59.000 --> 00:25:04.599 Vietnam War, and this includes people who were not yet 333 00:25:04.680 --> 00:25:07.559 charged with anything. Okay, Nixon was not charged with anything 334 00:25:07.559 --> 00:25:09.759 for Watergate. Most of the Vietnam Draft dodgers had not 335 00:25:09.839 --> 00:25:13.920 yet been subject to any kind of criminal action. They 336 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:19.200 were pardoned, and that gives them immunity from prosecution. The 337 00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:22.200 pardon power is this kind of awesome thing that the 338 00:25:22.200 --> 00:25:26.640 presidency has. It's actually, in fact a holdover from the 339 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:35.279 British monarchy. Okay, let's recall here in the United States, 340 00:25:35.319 --> 00:25:41.880 we used to be a British possession. The crown had 341 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:48.440 the prerogative to pardon people for criminal offenses. The King 342 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:52.839 of England, King Charles, can grant acts of clemency for 343 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:55.480 people who commit crimes, and the monarch has done this 344 00:25:55.519 --> 00:26:00.519 for centuries. In fact, I remember learning about this law school. 345 00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:02.640 One kind of pardon that the Crown would very often 346 00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:09.680 give was for voluntary manslaughter. So voluntary manslaughter basically was 347 00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:15.119 you come home, you find your wife sleeping with another man, 348 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:21.559 and you're so overcome with fury that you you shoot him, 349 00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:26.440 and you're struck by some immediate sort of traumatic like 350 00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:30.400 emotional thing that triggers you. You don't have a cooling 351 00:26:30.440 --> 00:26:35.000 down period. You kill somebody. Queen Victoria was often called 352 00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:39.440 upon to pardon people and so that that's called voluntary manslaughter. Okay, 353 00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:45.119 so it's not quite murder because there's no premeditation. And 354 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:48.319 Queen Victoria eventually said, I'm not gonna do these kinds 355 00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:50.920 of pardons because very often it's women getting killed in them, 356 00:26:51.079 --> 00:26:54.519 and like, what, I'm sorry, Like maybe these women did 357 00:26:54.519 --> 00:26:56.839 a bad thing, maybe they were subjected to someone else 358 00:26:56.880 --> 00:26:59.400 doing a bad thing or something. I don't think these 359 00:26:59.400 --> 00:27:01.920 people deserve to be killed, and I think it's okay 360 00:27:01.960 --> 00:27:05.119 to prosecute these people who engage in that kind of 361 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:09.240 a violent reaction with some kind of criminal proceeding. So 362 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:14.480 Queen Victoria actually didn't like pardoning people for certain kinds 363 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:17.640 of things. Anyway, the pardon power was this royal prerogative, 364 00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:21.559 and in the American Constitution they discussed the idea of 365 00:27:21.720 --> 00:27:26.559 having the president wield this power for people who committed 366 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:31.400 federal crimes, and the governors of the various state also 367 00:27:31.559 --> 00:27:34.480 have the pardon power. All the various state constitutions give 368 00:27:34.519 --> 00:27:38.039 their state governors the pardon to power people for violations 369 00:27:38.039 --> 00:27:42.799 of state crimes. So that's an important distinction. The president 370 00:27:43.079 --> 00:27:47.640 only has pardon power over people who commit federal offenses. 371 00:27:47.960 --> 00:27:51.680 So a crime in the District of Columbia or some 372 00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:58.279 interstate crime a violation of a federal statue. Governors can 373 00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:03.079 pardon people for state crimes. Now beyond pardoning, sort of 374 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:11.000 a logical corollary of the pardon power. If you can 375 00:28:11.119 --> 00:28:15.799 completely wipe away someone's criminal conviction and sentence, then you 376 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:25.119 can also partially wipe away someone's criminal sentence or conviction. Obviously, 377 00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:28.440 if you have the power to do this really large 378 00:28:28.440 --> 00:28:31.720 scale thing, you can. You clearly would have the power 379 00:28:31.720 --> 00:28:36.680 to do something on a smaller scale as well, So 380 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:44.079 a president can, as President Biden did, declare, Okay, your 381 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:46.720 sentence to death, I'm going to commute your sentence to 382 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:50.720 life imprisonment. President Biden did this in a completely ethically 383 00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:54.079 incoherent way with regards to all of the people on 384 00:28:54.119 --> 00:28:56.759 the federal death penalty, all the people on federal death 385 00:28:56.839 --> 00:29:00.960 row except for three people who are just really bad guys, 386 00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:06.359 the Boston marathon bomber and then a couple people involved 387 00:29:06.359 --> 00:29:11.000 in race related shootings. Well, because terrorism and race related 388 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:13.880 shootings are really bad, Okay, Well, then clearly Biden does. 389 00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:16.400 This was the thing Biden had said for his whole 390 00:29:16.400 --> 00:29:18.400 career that he didn't believe in the death penalty, that 391 00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:21.759 he opposed the death penalty, And now he's saying, well, 392 00:29:21.799 --> 00:29:24.759 I oppose the death penalty, but I think we need 393 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:27.000 to keep the death penalty in place for really really 394 00:29:27.039 --> 00:29:36.000 bad cases like race related shootings and terrorism. Okay, well, 395 00:29:36.000 --> 00:29:40.200 then you don't oppose the death penalty. Then either you 396 00:29:40.200 --> 00:29:42.880 oppose the death penalty or you don't oppose the death penalty. 397 00:29:44.039 --> 00:29:46.440 You don't really oppose the death penalty if you just say, oh, 398 00:29:46.519 --> 00:29:48.359 I oppose the death penalty except for these really really 399 00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:51.279 rare cases, and then you don't oppose the death penalty. 400 00:29:52.279 --> 00:29:59.400 What kind of silliness is this? Anyway, So that's the 401 00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:03.759