Clyburn backs Manchin idea of Biden par­don­ing Trump

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Clyburn backs Manchin idea of Biden pardoning Trump

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D‑SC) endorsed Sen. Joe Manchin‘s (I‑WV) sug­ges­tion that Pres­i­dent Joe Biden offer Pres­i­dent-elect Don­ald Trump a par­don next.

Dur­ing a CNN inter­view Tues­day, Clyburn said he would “absolute­ly” sup­port Biden if he moved to par­don Trump for fed­er­al crimes he has been accused of com­mit­ting.

“Yes, I could, absolute­ly, because the Supreme Court has pret­ty much made it very clear that he is pre­emp­tive­ly par­doned of any­thing he may do as pres­i­dent,” Clyburn said after not­ing that Trump’s New York hush mon­ey con­vic­tion this year would not fall under the realm of par­don ter­ri­to­ry because it is a state offense. 

Trump has not been con­vict­ed of any fed­er­al crimes, and the cas­es brought against him by spe­cial coun­sel Jack Smith are being dropped.

He was fac­ing charges in Flori­da for alleged­ly mis­han­dling clas­si­fied doc­u­ments he took from the White House after his term end­ed. The case stemmed from the FBI’s search of his Mar-a-Lago estate in August 2022.

Smith also brought charges against Trump in Wash­ing­ton, D.C., for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capi­tol and his role in alleged­ly incit­ing the inci­dent.

A par­don from the White House would bring all the fed­er­al cas­es against Trump to a halt.

On Mon­day, Manchin became the first Demo­c­ra­t­ic-affil­i­at­ed law­mak­er in the upper cham­ber to pro­pose par­don­ing Trump “for all his charges.” Manchin left the Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty this year to become an inde­pen­dent but still cau­cus­es with his for­mer par­ty. 

“Make it … a lot more bal­anced, if you will. I’m just say­ing, wipe them out,” he said. 

React­ing to his colleague’s posi­tion the next day, Clyburn added, “I did see what Manchin had to say…And so, I believe that [he] may be on to some­thing there.” 

Clyburn, who was the House major­i­ty whip until ear­ly 2023, car­ries great weight with Biden. The South Car­oli­na law­mak­er was cred­it­ed with help­ing the pres­i­dent surge to vic­to­ry dur­ing the 2020 Demo­c­ra­t­ic pri­ma­ry in the Pal­met­to State, allow­ing him to recoup from a series of bru­tal loss­es and gain momen­tum in his race to become the party’s nom­i­nee. 

He was also one of the last peo­ple Biden talked to before he dropped his bid for reelec­tion in July. 

Clyburn and Manchin’s push to par­don Trump comes after Biden’s recent deci­sion to par­don his son, Hunter Biden, who was con­vict­ed of tax and gun felonies this year, sparked con­tro­ver­sy.

Law­mak­ers on both sides of the aisle crit­i­cized the president’s move, as it fol­lowed repeat­ed promis­es he had made not to grant the favor to his son. 

Clyburn, on the oth­er hand, broke with many of his col­leagues, say­ing he called the pres­i­dent “two weeks ago” and urged him to par­don Hunter Biden. 

Pres­i­dent Joe Biden awards the nation’s high­est civil­ian hon­or, the Pres­i­den­tial Medal of Free­dom, to Rep. James Clyburn (D‑SC) dur­ing a cer­e­mo­ny in the East Room of the White House, Fri­day, May 3, 2024, in Wash­ing­ton. (AP Photo/Alex Bran­don)

“I am absolute­ly OK with it,” he said of the president’s par­don. 

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Manchin was less enthu­si­as­tic, say­ing he under­stood where the pres­i­dent was com­ing from as “a father.” 

“What I would have done dif­fer­ent­ly, and my rec­om­men­da­tions as a coun­selor would have been, why don’t you go ahead and par­don Don­ald Trump for all his charges?” he said.