Biden hopes to avoid divisive Trump investigations, preferring unity

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/president-elect-biden-wary-trump-focused-investigations-sources-say-n1247959

By Carol E. Lee, Kristen Welker and Mike Memoli

WASHINGTON — President-elect Joe Biden has privately told advisers that he doesn't want his presidency to be consumed by investigations of his predecessor, according to five people familiar with the discussions, despite pressure from some Democrats who want inquiries into President Donald Trump, his policies and members of his administration.

Biden has raised concerns that investigations would further divide a country he is trying to unite and risk making every day of his presidency about Trump, said the sources, who spoke on background to offer details of private conversations.

They said he has specifically told advisers that he is wary of federal tax investigations of Trump or of challenging any orders Trump may issue granting immunity to members of his staff before he leaves office. One adviser said Biden has made it clear that he "just wants to move on."

Another Biden adviser said, "He's going to be more oriented toward fixing the problems and moving forward than prosecuting them."

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. I did not and do not want to hear this.

NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW. If he sticks to this strategy, many, many people who voted for him will walk away. And it will gain him NO repug voters.
Move On???????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Want to lose ME? Keep this rhetoric up.

[StarfishSaver]

9. You didn't read the article, did you?

Biden wants his Justice Department to function independently from the White House, aides said, and Biden isn't going to tell federal law enforcement officials whom or what to investigate or not to investigate.

"His overarching view is that we need to move the country forward," an adviser said. "But the most important thing on this is that he will not interfere with his Justice Department and not politicize his Justice Department."

[SidDithers]

36. +1...nt

Sid

[Azathoth]

40. That's meaningless pablum

That translates to "Joe Biden promises not to be overtly corrupt". Great.

The decision to allow investigations and legal action against members of the Trump administration, and especially to challenge an unconstitutional self-pardon, would be a cabinet-level initiative. The AG would have to make that call, and the AG is going to take his/her priority cues from the chief executive.

[kentuck]

2. That's what he should be doing...

...however.

He would not attempt to interfere with the work of the FBI or the Justice Dept. They would be independent in their pursuit of justice.

Biden is capable of staying out of the way of the Justice Department and the FBI, if they have legitimate investigations.

It will be interesting to see if he keeps Christopher Wray on and who will be the Attorney General?

[JI7]

3. " he would leave decisions up to an independent Justice Department. "

[StarfishSaver]

12. It would be nice if people actually read the articles they're freaking out over before freaking out

[abqtommy]

4. Joe still hasn't gotten back to me on my suggestion he ship tRUMP to Gitmo in chains. I'll

keep you posted.

[superpatriotman]

5. Fuck. That.

Nt

[Mr. Ected]

6. Best that the investigations not be headed up by Trump's successor in office

Let the House and the FBI open their own investigations.

Our system cannot be circumvented by a bunch of Nazi criminals who thumbed their noses at justice and the Constitution. We've gone down this road before and it brought us Donald J. Trump, William Barr, and a bunch of crooks let go and pardoned by the dictator. Next time we may not be so lucky.

If they committed crimes, expose them, try them, incarcerate them and make an example of them.

[StarfishSaver]

7. Read the article ...

He didn't say his administration wouldn't prosecute Trump and his minions. He said he wouldn't allow his presidency to be consumed by investigations and that he would allow his DOJ to do what it needed to do without his interference.

That's EXACTLY what he needs to say and do.

People need to calm down.

[Celerity]

10. +1000

[WhiskeyGrinder]

20. I mean, these are all second-hand characterizations of what Biden reportedly said.

So there's plenty of wiggle room between what we hear and what he means. But I'll be more surprised if Trump and his bandits are ever prosecuted than if they aren't.

[liberalmuse]

25. This right here.

And he is right. Let the law go after Trumpco. The DOJ will be very busy prosecuting Trump crimes and exposing his horrors. Biden will focus on his positive plans to heal and move us in the right direction again. Why focus on someone as putrid as Trump? Leave him to the Justice and Intelligence agencies.

[uponit7771]

33. That goes without saying, so why did the he say anything? tia

[StarfishSaver]

45. Read the article!

If you'd read it, you'd know he DIDN'T say anything. This is all unnamed sources supposedly quoting private conversations.

[uponit7771]

51. Thanks for the reminder that our MSM is still sloppy no matter who's in power

[StarfishSaver]

53. The article isn't sloppy, just the headline

What's really sloppy is people who should know better jumping to conclusions and jumping all over Biden based on the headline of a story they didn't bother to read. It's not the MSM's fault that people here don't read the stories they're commenting on.

[Tribetime]

8. The State of New York is my best hope

[DFW]

11. The Biden Administraton doesn't need to be obsessed with all Trump felonies

But it DOES need to have its Justice Department investigate and pursue the most egregious of them, just as what happened after Nixon. At all costs, it must be made clear that this kind of crime is NOT acceptable. Otherwise, the perpetrators will be encouraged to continue with it. Barr, Miller, Kushner, Pompeo, Stone, (maybe even McConnell and Graham) etc. need to be prosecuted for any serious crimes uncovered by serious investigations (NOT à la Benghazi or emails, e.g.), and not put in a country club prison for six months upon a guilty verdict, either. Treason, obstruction and grand larceny are not misdemeanors.

[StarfishSaver]

13. That's exactly what the article says

I don't think most of the people commenting on it in this thread bothered to read it.

[DFW]

15. I couldn't access it without consenting to a bunch of unclear stuff, so I clicked off

I'm in Germany, and won't click on some carte blanche to fill our computers here with ads (and whatever else was in the fine print) from the States. We're getting more and more of that from US sites these days, and I will forego the article before I consent to fifty different streams of ads and whatever else jumping into our computers here.

[ooky]

27. U.S. sites are awful with the ads.

Certain sites I couldn't follow the links and then even read the story because of so many ads loading. Raw Story and USA today were unworkable. So I got fed up with it and got a 2 dollar ad blocker, and that got rid of the problem on most sites. Don't know if that would work for you in Germany but if you haven't already it's something you can try that may help.

[SomedayKindaLove]

14. Let Manhattan deal with Trump

Trump still has rape case too

Justice Department can investigate All of the King’s Men

[MissMillie]

41. THIS X 1,000,000

I have every confidence that they can handle it, and that they can get convictions that cannot be pardoned.

Especially in light of the fact that Biden's treasury secretary can release the tax returns. There's an outstanding subpoena for the returns. Release them and then wash your hands of it--and get on to fixing everything ELSE Mr. tRump has screwed up.

[Roland99]

16. Same vein as many Dems. They will keep getting away with worse and worse until they meet justice!!

[jrthin]

17. Really? Not happy. nt

[RAB910]

18. Let the House investigate

No more obstruction from the White House

[Autumn]

19. He should move on. Right after he directs his DOJ to go after the sonsofbitches with

everything they can. To do otherwise would be the worst mistake ever made.

[kacekwl]

21. President Biden doesn't have to be involved. Hand

everything over to the lawyers. Federal and local prosecutors can handle this themselves preferably on the QT until the trump crime family is in court. By NO means should any of them be allowed to slide. None of them trump included.

[Happy Hoosier]

22. There is no unity without consequence.

You think this asshole's play to stay in power is bad? Wait until he gets away with it. No consequences means no reason not try even harder next time. I appreciate where he is coming from, and I don't think he should lead the charge, but those who broke the law MUST face the consequences.

[krispos42]

23. Unity is a myth, and all Trump investigations will be divisive

Both times because you're dealing the the Trump Cult.

Accept these truths, nail Trump's hide to the wall, and turn out your base by highlighting how much justice to meted out and corruption punished.

Anything else WILL NOT WORK.

[COLGATE4]

24. JFC!!!!!!! Don't we EVER learn?

Obama spent 8 years playing nice with Repukes and all we got was a stick shoved up our ass. Now Joe wants to go the same route. There's no learning curve at all, just a flat line.

[NewJeffCT]

26. that's why they need a Special Counsel

appointed by a legitimate, law abiding AG.

[mtnsnake]

28. For gods sake, no mercy for him, please!! The only way to get any unity is to get some respect

and to get some respect from those assholes, we need to teach them a lesson that we will never take that kind of shit without getting justice. The satisfaction that we're supposed to get from this long hard journey is 50% seeing Joe Biden beat Trump and 50% seeing justice brought to Trump. At least for me that's what this is about.

[Azathoth]

29. And Biden's done

We'll be decimated in the midterms and the GOP House will have impeached Biden for having dementia by 2024.

After the last 12 years, if the first thing our side is concerned about after winning is avoiding making the GOP sad, then we deserve what's coming.

The fact the Biden team felt this was such an important message they needed to get it out *while they're still standing on a street corner barred from beginning the transition* tells you all you need to know. Get ready for four years of "uniting the country" through preemptive surrender.

[Gothmog]

31. How will Biden's justice department get around pardons?

[uponit7771]

34. they can't but we don't want them avoiding investigations in the truth being out

What was in the article goes without saying so I don't know why anyone had to say anything on this issue of course it's going to raise questions

[Azathoth]

35. 1) There are no pardons yet

2) There are strong legal reasons to believe that self-pardons, and maybe also overbroad blanket pardons, are unconstitutional.

3) The corruption and vandalism over the past 4 years goes FAR beyond Trump and his kids' tax scams. There need to be extensive reviews, audits and referrals to IGs across the board.

[Gothmog]

42. Joe is not the POTUS yet

trump will be issuing a ton of pardons before he leaves. If trump is truly worried about self pardons he will resign and have Pence pardon him. The feds can pursue tax claims and emoulment actions but these pardons will likely be upheld as to federal criminal charges.

We can investigate abuses of power but any pardon will tie the hands of the feds with respect to criminal charges.

[Azathoth]

50. Joe can react to the pardons if and when they happen

Preemptively announcing he wants to let bygones be bygones is insane.

[Gothmog]

30. trump is going to pardon himself or have Pence issue a pardon

As a practical matter there will be no federal criminal prosecutions of trump or his family due to these pardons but there will be state prosecutions and federal civil suits such as the amoulement cases

[treestar]

32. He's right every day would be about Trump

The media would not be able to resist.

[tarheelsunc]

37. The best political outcome for us...

Would be for Trump or Pence to issue a blanket pardon for Trump, and then for NY to prosecute at the state level. Then he looks guilty as hell, he can't accuse Biden of going after him, and NY can still dispose of the garbage.

[SidDithers]

38. **Clang!!** another outrage widget hits the shop floor...

Sid

[Tommy_Carcetti]

39. Terrible job of a headline.

President Biden will trust his Department of Justice to act independently and in good faith as to any legal matters concerning Donald Trump.

He's not going to be holding rallies with people chanting "Lock him up!," nor should he. He's got a pandemic and a wounded economy to deal with and that's going to be what demands his attention.

The Department of Justice is more than capable of handling the job as it sees fit, and if it finds a Special Counsel investigation is warranted, it will appoint one. Then there's what's going on in New York state courts as well.

Bottom line is let the cards fall as they may. Joe's neither going to pardon Trump nor act like Inspector Javert towards him. That doesn't mean Trump's anywhere close to out of the woods.

I have a feeling some of those cards will be brutal towards Trump, either on a state or federal level.

[BSdetect]

43. Better not avoid any investigations. Enough "healing the division" bullshit.

[StarfishSaver]

46. If you want to accuse him of being a "doormat" at least try to know what you're talking about first

You can start by actually reading the article that's the subject of this discussion.

[StarfishSaver]

48. I don't think you did read it.

Biden wants his Justice Department to function independently from the White House, aides said, and Biden isn't going to tell federal law enforcement officials whom or what to investigate or not to investigate.

"His overarching view is that we need to move the country forward," an adviser said. "But the most important thing on this is that he will not interfere with his Justice Department and not politicize his Justice Department."

Or maybe you did read it but chose to cherry pick a paragraph to smear our president-elect as a "doormat" on your second day on DU.

Enjoy your stay.

[progressoid]

49. Unity!? Ha! Has he forgotten how McTurtle and the GOP treated him and Obama for 8 long years.

[Hotler]

52. Joe, this is what the repugs think of us. "The only good democrat is a dead democrat."

I have no desire to unite with those people.

[BainsBane]

54. I thought this would be his view

Given his emphasis on reconciliation and coming together.