Biden pardons his family minutes before leaving office (01-20-2025--Hour2)

[00:00:04] What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to 3 on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to thepetekalendershow.com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button, get every episode for free, right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:28] We had a great debate before the program began as to whether or not I would label this podcast. Because every hour we do live here, it gets turned into a podcast and then gets pushed out on the podcasting platforms. You can subscribe, by the way. It's totally free. It's called thepetepod.com or wbt.com. But you can search for my name if you can spell it, which a lot of people cannot. That's why I got The Pete Pod as an additional URL, not to be confused with the one out in Los Angeles.

[00:00:58] Um, so we debated whether to call this hour one or hour two. I'm calling it hour two because hour one was preempted by the, uh, inauguration of Donald Trump. And, um, so they had the, you know, all the pageantry and, and, uh, you know, prayers and songs. It was all very good. It was all very good. Um, if you have an hour, go back, watch it, uh, you'll enjoy it. I think. And Donald Trump gave a speech as well, uh, hitting a lot of high points. And during that speech,

[00:01:28] um, we found out that there were a whole bunch of other pardons that Joe Biden signed literally within minutes of him leaving the white house, like physically leaving the white, like what, like you're on your way to work and you're running late. And you're like, Oh, I forgot to sign that check. Oh, I forgot to sign that form. Let me, you rush in and you sign something real quick on your way, literally racing out the door.

[00:01:57] He signed two more rafts of pardons. One was for all of his family members that were part of the Biden crime family. These were the people who had all of the millions of dollars washing through their bank accounts, the bag men basically of the operation.

[00:02:17] He pardoned, uh, let's see his brother, James, James's wife, Sarah, Valerie Biden, John T. Owens and Francis W. Biden. Full and unconditional pardons, um, for any nonviolent offenses against the United States, which they may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014.

[00:02:46] So that was during Obama's presidency while Joe was veep through the date of this pardon, which was like 11 59 and 50 seconds or something today. And then the second raft. And I confess, I don't know these names, but Daryl Chambers, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, who is now apparently deceased.

[00:03:15] This is a posthumous pardon. Ravidath Ragbir, Don Leonard Scott Jr. and Kemba Smith Pradya. Why? Who are they? The following named persons for those offenses against the United States as contained in their respective petitions to the Department of Justice. Doesn't, I don't know who these are, except that they might be actually DOJ employees.

[00:03:47] So on the way out the door, even more pardons. This is on top of the pardons that he gave to Fauci and Millie and, uh, the J6 committee members. And by the way, the U S Supreme court, because Joe Biden in his, uh, his comments about this. Let me see here. I wasn't good. I was going to actually get to this later, but the pardoning of his family came down during the inauguration.

[00:04:17] And so I'm shifting gears calling an audible as it were the, uh, the president, well, the former president. Oh, that feels good to say. Former president Joe Biden, um, in the statement that his staffers wrote, I can only assume say that the issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgement that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing,

[00:04:43] nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense. See, he's saying that they didn't do anything wrong. And just because I'm writing these pardons and signing these pardons doesn't mean they did anything wrong. They're not admitting to doing anything wrong. We're just really afraid that that tyrant, uh, Donald Trump is going to, you know, use the government to go after his political adversaries like I did.

[00:05:13] However, the U S Supreme court back in 1915 in a case, Burdick versus United States. Here's what the Supreme court said about pardons quote, a pardon carries an imputation of guilt and acceptance of a confession of it. What does that mean? It means that if the pardon is issued, there is an, it is imputed. It is implied.

[00:05:42] It is assumed. It is conveyed. It's understood that there was guilt that somebody did something for which a pardon would be necessary. And acceptance of the pardon is a confession of the guilt. That's the reason you get the pardon. It's the reason you take the pardon. The Ford white house.

[00:06:11] You'll recall when it pardoned Nixon had determined that Nixon's acceptance of the pardon was an admission of guilt. That's all according to James Rosen. Who's the white house correspondent over at Newsmax. But the Supreme court ruling is Burdick versus U S from 1915. And we knew this was going to happen. It had to have after the pardons.

[00:06:40] I mean, he, he went through what? It was like 2,500 pardons the other day, more pardons and commutations than any other president. I think maybe all presidents combined at this point and maybe, maybe from now on, no more pardons in the last year of office. How about that?

[00:07:01] If you want to do a bunch of pardons, you don't get to do it on your way out the door when you've lost in sort of this zombie, you know, late term lame duck presidency. If you want to write pardons, you do them in the first three years, three and a half years, even like I'm open to negotiate the deadline, but it should be before the election.

[00:07:27] So this way you don't get to do this kind of stuff anymore from the party that claimed no one is above the law. What the hell do you think Donald Trump and every other president now is empowered to do? Preemptive pardons for family members. The very thing you guys railed against for years promising us that this is what Donald Trump would do because he's a tyrant and he's corrupt.

[00:07:55] But it's different when our guy does it because Democrat. I've got, let's see here. Okay, here's first up. Let's play this one. This is, yeah. So this is now Senator, then Congressman, Adam Schiff for brains. Schiff, with you responding what you just heard there.

[00:08:19] Well, let me just say with respect to some of the nominees like Cash Patel, this is someone in my view who is not qualified to be FBI director and someone who claimed, for example, that he wanted to shut down FBI headquarters early in his tenure and open a museum to the deep state. So this is a conspiracy theorist. It's also someone, I think, who demonstrated, sadly, a principle of the first Trump administration. And that is you rise to the level of the second part.

[00:08:48] And the bigger the sick event, the higher you rise. He's risen pretty high. But that's not what we're looking for in FBI director. What's your impression about the January 6 pardons? Well, greatly concerned about it. First of all, that he could pardon people that beat police officers, gouge them, bear sprayed them.

[00:09:04] But also, even beyond that, just the general message it would send, George, that his first pardons are going to go to people who sought through the use of violence at the Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power. That played some role in that. Really, that's who he wants to pardon? The American people, I think, voted for him in part because they wanted something done about crime, not because they wanted to see him pardon criminals attacking the government. They want something done about fentanyl.

[00:09:34] They want something done about California smash and grab robberies. This is not what they had in mind, not political revenge, not rewarding people who participated in an insurrection to stop the transfer of power. The president-elect has also talked about prosecuting members of the January 6th committee like you. I know you said you don't want a preemptive pardon from President Biden. Is that because you think the Trump administration will not actually prosecute? I don't know what the Trump administration will do, but it's for a couple of reasons.

[00:10:03] First, those of us on the committee are very proud of the work we did. We were doing vital, quintessential oversight of a violent attack on the Capitol. So I think it's unnecessary. But second, the precedent of giving blanket pardons, preemptive blanket pardons, on the way out of an administration, I think is a precedent we don't want to set. And you've communicated that to the president, President Biden? I've communicated it both publicly and privately to the administration.

[00:10:31] To the administration, not Joe Biden. Because as the New York Times reported and, you know, confirming the Wall Street Journal reporting and confirming what we all have been able to see with our own eyes, that Joe Biden has been mentally incapacitated for the last few years. So the precedent, he says there at the end, the precedent of giving blanket pardons, preemptive blanket pardons on the way out of an administration is a precedent we don't want to set. And Biden just said it.

[00:11:00] He is everything that the left claim Donald Trump is. Here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina, just a quick drive up the mountain? And Cabins of Asheville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for a big old reunion, Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter.

[00:11:29] Nestled within the breathtaking 14,000 acres of the Pisgah National Forest, their cabins offer a serene escape in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Centrally located between Asheville and the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, it's the perfect balance of seclusion and proximity to all the local attractions. With hot tubs, fireplaces, air conditioning, smart TVs, Wi-Fi, grills, outdoor tables, and your own private covered porch,

[00:11:55] choose from 13 cabins, 6 cottages, 2 villas, and a great lodge with 11 king-sized bedrooms, Cabins of Asheville has the ideal spot for you for any occasion. And they have pet-friendly accommodations. Call or text 828-367-7068. Or check out all there is to offer at cabinsofashville.com and make memories that'll last a lifetime.

[00:12:18] So Joe Biden pardoned, this was the story that was released early this morning as when I saw it, right, that there were a bunch of pardons that went out the door earlier this morning, but that wasn't the only one, it wasn't the only pardons that Biden was signing. So the first story that we got this morning was that Biden had pardoned the science,

[00:12:46] that wrestler from the 80s, the science, remember him? Remember he started off as a hero and then he became a heel? That guy? No, Dr. Anthony Fauci. The science, I'm like the science. And questioning me is, it's almost like that they are, they're ignoring the science. They're criticizing the science. I am the science. And then there's General Mark Milley.

[00:13:14] He got one too, preemptively. As did members of the House committee that investigated the January 6th attack on the Capitol, according to the Associated Press. Using the extraordinary powers of his office in his final hours to guard against potential revenge by the incoming Trump administration. So that's all you need to say now? They didn't do anything wrong, but I'm going to give them some pardons because, you know, somebody could accuse them of doing something wrong.

[00:13:42] And I don't know if they did anything wrong. I don't think they did anything wrong. Surely they didn't do anything wrong. So I'm going to protect them, even if they did something wrong, for stuff that they may be investigated for that they didn't do wrong. That's what Joe Biden did today with Fauci, Milley, and the J6 committee members,

[00:14:04] including Adam Schiff for brains. So he said he didn't want one, but he got one. I don't know if you can even refuse them. But accepting one, the Supreme Court says, is tacitly an admission of the guilt, which is why you take the pardon.

[00:14:33] The decision by the Bidens, well, yes, by the Bidens, comes after Donald Trump warned of an enemies list filled with those who have crossed him politically or sought to hold him accountable for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election loss and his oral... Well, wait a minute, no. The J6 people are accused of destroying evidence. That's what they're accused of doing. And so now if they did illegally destroy evidence, they get to skate on that.

[00:15:03] See, that's the problem here. All right, I hope you had a happy holiday season, but tell me if something like this happened at your house. Your family and friends are gathered around. Maybe y'all are in the living room. You're laughing, swapping stories, reminiscing, and then somebody says, Hey, Dad, remember those old VHS tapes? Did you ever get them transferred? And then the room gets all quiet. All eyes are on Dad who says, Oh, you know, well, I've been meaning to, but I just haven't gotten around to it.

[00:15:31] Look, don't let those priceless memories sit in a box for another year. All right, Create A Video has been helping families in the Charlotte area preserve their history since 1997. Simply bring in your old camcorder tapes and Create A Video will transfer them to a USB flash drive for just $14.95 per tape. You have a big collection? They've got a discount for you. And next year, instead of talking about those memories, imagine gathering the family to watch them together.

[00:15:59] Talk about a memorable gift. So do what I did. Trust the experts at Create A Video, conveniently located in Mint Hill right off I-485 and online at createavideo.com. Dan Proft is a radio guy and he tweeted, Joe Biden left as he served, a first-order scoundrel and an unmitigated fraud. Joe Biden has always been this guy. And the people that surround him

[00:16:29] knew it and were of like mind. The pardons that he just dished out to his family members and to Fauci and to Mark Milley, who it like one could interpret General Mark Milley's actions to be treason. This stuff, what Milley did in talking to foreign adversarial powers

[00:16:58] saying, don't worry, don't worry, I got, you know, I'll prevent Trump from doing stuff. That's the commander-in-chief you're talking about. And you saying that you're going to disobey his orders and you'll work around him and you'll make sure that whatever he wants done, he's not going to get done. Don't worry, we're stable. Like that's, that's not your job. You're not supposed to be doing that. I'm surprised that he didn't pardon the 51

[00:17:26] former intelligence and current, you know, intelligence people that signed on to that letter after the Hunter Biden laptop, which by the way, just a quick reminder on that, because it seems like a lot of people forget this or may have never heard it. The Hunter Biden laptop, had that, had, had Hunter Biden not left that laptop at that shop in Delaware and then never went back to pick it up even though the shop owner said,

[00:17:55] hey, your laptop's done, we finished repairing it and Hunter never came back for it and by rule, it then becomes property of the shop and that shop owner then turned it over to authorities. Had Hunter Biden never dropped that laptop, we would never know about all of the bank accounts, which is why Joe pardoned his family.

[00:18:24] It was all of these family members that had the bank accounts where the money was being washed through. They had more than two dozen bank accounts and LLCs that they had set up for all these different, you know, fake reasons I would submit and then they would pay, one LLC would pay another, would pay another, would pay another, put it into this account, move it to that account and the reason you do that is to mask it.

[00:18:53] It's to money launder and without knowing all of the LLCs and all of the bank accounts and being able to track all of the transfers, you would never know that and you would never know the bank accounts and the LLCs had Hunter Biden not left his laptop at that shop. The pardons announced, well, the first round of pardons were announced just hours before the end of Biden's presidency have been the subject of heated debate for months at the highest levels of the White House.

[00:19:23] It's customary for a president to grant clemency at the end of his term but those acts of mercy are usually offered to Americans who have been convicted of crimes, convicted of crimes. Biden has used the power in the broadest and most untested way possible. This is the AP. Tell me more about the destruction of norms, Democrats and you never Trump Republicans. tell me more

[00:19:52] about how Trump is the one who destroyed the norms. Right? To pardon people who have not even been investigated for anything. The decision lays the groundwork for an even more expansive use of pardons by Trump and future presidents. See, that's the thing about slippery slopes. They are slopes and they are slippery and once you start down them, you can't stop because they're slippery. Tough to regain your footing

[00:20:21] on a slippery slope. There's a reason the cliche exists, people. There are fears that Trump or future presidents could use the promise of a blanket pardon to encourage allies to take actions they might otherwise resist for fear of running afoul of the law. Right. Which, right. That's the whole point. That's why you don't do this is because now Trump could turn around and say, everybody in my administration, you do whatever

[00:20:51] the hell you want and don't worry, before I leave office, blanket pardons for everybody. Like, what have you done? Joe? Well, Joe probably doesn't know. Joe is probably unaware. I've got a clip from Mike Johnson. We'll play it in the next hour. It's unclear whether those pardoned by Biden would need to apply for the clemency or even accept the offer at all. By the way, the J6ers apparently all did,

[00:21:21] the J6 committee members. Any acceptance could be seen as a tacit admission of guilt or wrongdoing. Well, that's what the Supreme Court ruling talked about. They said it is. Any acceptance could be seen, oh, I read that already, sorry, validating years of attacks by Trump and his supporters even though those who have been pardoned have not been formally accused of any crimes. Right? So this is about branding. This is about protection and branding. Right? You protect them from any investigation

[00:21:51] into what they may or may not have done and then you get to say, well, they were never even investigated. Well, yeah, because you pardoned them in order to short circuit the investigative process which, by the way, I did get a message here from Mike. Do you think an investigation into Fauci should happen anyway? I do. We and history deserve the truth. I agree. And here's the nice part about a pardon though. He can't claim the fifth. Nobody can claim the fifth anymore. And by the way,

[00:22:21] Joe Biden can still be impeached. He's not in office but you can still do it. Bring him back in. Bring in every one of the family members that got pardons. There is no Fifth Amendment protection anymore. They are compelled to testify. There is no self-incrimination that is on the table. That's the thing. When you get a pardon, you no longer can self-incriminate because you have a pardon. These are exceptional circumstances and I cannot in good conscience

[00:22:51] do nothing, Biden said, or whoever wrote the statement, even when individuals have done nothing wrong and in fact have done the right thing and will ultimately be exonerated from what? Exonerated from what? The mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances. Yeah, tell that to Donald Trump. Right? So he is well aware of the cost of simply being accused. Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs

[00:23:21] of Staff, called Trump a fascist and detailed Trump's conduct around the deadly J6 2021 insurrection. He said he was grateful to Biden for a pardon so he no longer has to worry about retribution. for doing back-channel discussions with our foreign adversaries, saying, basically, he's in charge. Don't worry, I'm in charge. I won't let all this stuff happen. This is a decision to break with political norms.

[00:23:52] Biden has said the president has set the presidential record for more individual pardons and commutations issued than anyone else. He announced Friday he'd be commuting sentences of almost 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. He previously announced he was commuting the sentences of 37 out of the 40 people on federal death row. So it's not just nonviolent people. He converted their punishments to life imprisonment because,

[00:24:22] you know, Trump's coming in and he may put them to death. By the way, from the Constitution, I mean, whoever looks at that anymore, that the president shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States. We don't even know what these offenses were. This is like, I'm not even sure that a preemptive pardon is a thing, right?

[00:24:52] I mean, like, I guess, I guess maybe it is. I don't know. I'm not a constitutional lawyer. But also, no, it's all a distraction on Twitter. That's her name. It's all a distraction. I'm sure little granddaughter Navy received no pardon. Yes, you are correct. No pardon for her. I mean, she's only like three, so. And I don't even know if she's related to the Bidens. They never acknowledge her. So I, Reuters reported in November that the Trump transition

[00:25:22] team was drawing up a list of military officers seen as connected to Millie to be fired. So a lot, so not only are they worried about getting fired, they're worried that they may have committed, they may have committed as George Bluth said, some light treason. Maybe, maybe. So just blanket pardons for everybody on the way out the door. Norm's restored. All right, if you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events, and I know you do too, and you've

[00:25:51] probably heard me say, get your news from multiple sources. Why? Well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground news. It's an app, and it's a website, and it combines news from around the world in one place, so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check.ground.news slash pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using ground news a few months ago, and more recently chose to work

[00:26:21] with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered, and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself, check.ground.news slash pete. Subscribe through that link, and you'll get 15% off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports ground news as they make the media landscape more transparent.

[00:26:52] Jake Tapper posted on Twitter on December 3rd, 2020. Okay, so think back December 3rd, 2020. Okay, so Trump loses the election in November. We're waiting for Biden to come in. This is before January 6th. Okay, and President Elect Biden sits for an interview on CNN with Tapper, and he asks Biden about reports that Trump is

[00:27:22] considering preemptive pardons, and Joe Biden says, and that means, quote, it concerns me in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of laws and justice. And then he does it himself. He turns around and does it himself.

[00:27:52] Four years later. There is a writer, he goes by the Twitter handle Pundit Review. He's out of Massachusetts. And he says, why did Biden pardon his family? Because everything the GOP investigated and claimed about the Biden crime family was true. Nine Biden family members, including the president's granddaughter, have received money from foreign entities totaling over $20 million. That's why. You know who did not get a pardon, though?

[00:28:22] Dr. Jill. Dr. Jill Biden did not get a pardon. Vindman. Remember that guy who leaked the information about the perfect phone call with Ukrainian President Vladimir or Voldemir, whatever he's going by, the guy without the collared shirts everywhere. That guy. Alexander Vindman, his wife Rachel, posted on

[00:28:51] Threads, which is a social media platform that nobody really uses, but it was supposed to take out Twitter, but it didn't. But I think that's the Facebook or the meta version of Twitter that's probably now being cannibalized by Blue Sky. So Rachel Vindman posted, whatever happens to my family, know this, no pardons were offered or discussed. I cannot begin to describe the level of betrayal and hurt I feel.

[00:29:21] You should talk with Donald Trump. I bet he feels a little bit of that betrayal from your husband. And by the way, at the time, I said that that phone call did not warrant impeachment at the time. Okay, me who is, you know, not a defender of Donald Trump and all the things he says and does, which I'm sure is now going to tick some people off in the next four years. Wait till I get to the TikTok stuff.

[00:29:51] But even I could recognize what I was seeing in reading through the transcript of that phone call. We did a theatrical performance. My producer read one part. I read the other part. I forget. I think I did the Ukrainian. I think I did Zelensky because I could do the accent better. Anyway, that was not an impeachable phone call. But that's what Democrats wanted to do. Also, somebody else who didn't get a pardon,

[00:30:21] Francis Collins, former head of the NIH, right? One of Fauci's cohorts there. This was the guy that sang the song to the tune. He rewrote the words to Somewhere Over the Rainbow to Someday After the Pandemic as part of his retirement gig. Awful. Just awful. He did not get a pardon. So I wonder, can you bring him in and make Fauci testify against him? I think so. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening.

[00:30:51] I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast. So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to the Pete Calendar show dot com. Again,