After Biden Set Precedent, Trump Is Considering Vast Pardons for Junior Staffers So Dems Can't Persecute Them Once He's Gone
President Donald Trump is reportedly considering issuing mass preemptive pardons for people who worked in his administration at the end of his term.
If he did so, he would be following a precedent former President Joe Biden set.
Shortly before he left office, Biden issued preemptive pardons to former administration officials Anthony Fauci and Gen. Mark Milley, as well as his son, Hunter Biden; his brother James Biden and his wife, Sarah Jones Biden; his brother Francis Biden; and his sister and her husband, Valerie Biden Owens and John T. Owens.
Additionally, Biden pardoned all members of Congress and congressional staff who served on the Jan. 6 committee, and members of D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department who testified before the committee.
The Washington Sun reported on Saturday, in the case of Trump, “A pardon for all junior administration personnel is viewed as unlikely, one source said, but the president could issue blanket pardons for all employees involved in particular policy areas, such as deportations, war or trade.”
“Trump has previously said he would be interested in pardoning some administration officials, but the discussions happening now would apply to a far greater number of White House staff than has been previously reported,” the outlet continued.
The possibility of Trump issuing mass preemptive pardons comes in the aftermath of Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan suggesting that prosecuting Trump administration officials would be a way of deterring people from working for him.
Speaking at a University of Chicago event on Oct. 13, the lawmaker stated, “I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration? Like, that sounds fun. I might get an opportunity.’”
“I want them to be like, Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems that I don’t want, and so let me avoid participating in that,” Slotkin continued. “I want that deterrence message sent.”
ON UCHICAGO CAMPUS: U.S. Senator from Michigan Elissa Slotkin hopes planned political prosecutions of republican leaders will scare young conservatives from getting involved in politics.
@ElissaSlotkin https://t.co/p7NBJpDcQW
— The Chicago Thinker (@ThinkerChicago) October 17, 2026
“That’s a hell of a statement,” Trump said in response last week.
The president elaborated, “They’ve weaponized government. Slotkin is a low-life who is ruining her state, just destroying her state. What they’re doing is really discouraging people from going into politics. They weaponized government, the Democrats — that’s what they’ve done.”
.@POTUS: “That’s a hell of a statement. Slotkin said that there should be prosecutions in order to scare people from going into politics. That’s a Democrat and that’s what they do. That’s all they’re good at — and you know what? That’s why they’re getting their asses kicked.” https://t.co/oX6fAubz0P
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 19, 2026
During the 2024 election cycle, prosecutors from Democrat-led governments charged Trump with a total of 91 crimes.
The Biden FBI carried out the largest criminal investigation in the agency’s history, which was directed at Trump supporters. It resulted in the Justice Department charging over 1,500 people with Jan. 6-related crimes, though most of the protesters had not engaged in violence.
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Trump pardoned, or in a few cases commuted the sentences to time served, those convicted of Jan. 6 crimes. He also pardoned former staff members of his administration prosecuted by the Biden Justice Department, including Peter Navarro, and former chief of staff Mark Meadows, who was charged in Georgia.
Daily Wire opinion editor Ben Domenech encouraged the president to issue a preemptive pardon to all his staff members before leaving office, arguing, “Slotkin and her ilk have done enough to render our politics toxic, horrible, and full of vengeance.”
“For too long, Republicans have been fighting them like they’re just fellow civic-minded Americans whose complaints deserve a hearing. It’s time we dealt with them like they deserve. Stop them in their tracks, and protect young Trump staffers from their vile and vengeful agenda.”
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