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Topics: US News, Politics, Donald Trump, Joe Biden
Britt Jones
Topics: US News, Politics, Donald Trump, Joe Biden
President Donald Trump has explained why he believes a 'sad' decision made by Joe Biden should have been different.
After accusing former President Biden of corruption this week, Trump has opened up about why he thinks the Democrat made a 'mistake' before leaving office.
In his first TV interview since making his return to the White House after being inaugurated on January 20, Trump appeared to draw parallels between his tax and corruption lawsuits and Biden’s choice to pardon his family members.
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“It’s really hard to say that they shouldn’t have to go through it all,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
The 78-year-old claimed that Biden, 82, received ‘very bad advice’ minutes before leaving office.
Trump said he was given the option to pardon himself in 2021 but declined as he didn’t think he had done anything wrong.
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“I was given the option. They said, ‘Sir, would you like to pardon everybody, including yourself?’ I said, ‘I’m not going to pardon anybody. We didn’t do anything wrong’,” the president explained.
However, he believes that Biden should have taken a different path when pardoning others.
Biden pardoned several of his family members in one of his last acts as President of the United States and in a statement issued before Trump was sworn into office, the White House shared a message on Biden's behalf.
It read: "My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me - the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.
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"I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families.
"Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances."
As for Biden's choice to pardon others and not himself, Trump was stumped.
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“This guy went around giving everybody pardons,” he said. “And you know, the funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn’t give himself a pardon. And if you look at it, it all had to do with him.”
Trump continued: “I went through four years of hell by this scum that we had to deal with.
“I spent millions of dollars in legal fees, and I won, but I did it the hard way. It’s really hard to say that they shouldn’t have to go through it all. So it’s very hard to say that.”
“Remember this,” he added. “Joe Biden got very bad advice…
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“Joe Biden has very bad advisers. Somebody advised Joe Biden to give pardons to everybody but him.”
Trump then told Hannity he would defer to Congress as to whether they should investigate Biden and his pardons.