Former Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday that, if elected president, he would not pardon President Donald Trump for any crime he may have committed while in office.
The presumptive Democratic presidential was asked by MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell if he plans to “commit to the American ideal that no one is above the law,” and willing “to not pull a President Ford.”
“Absolutely yes, commit,” Biden said. “It is hands-off completely. Look, the attorney general of the United States is not the president’s lawyer. It is the people’s lawyer.”
The question referred to the pardon of Richard Nixon by an executive order made in 1974 by then-President Gerald Ford, which end all further investigations Nixon’s Watergate scandal.
Ford said he acted to ease social unrest following the resignation of Nixon.
Biden further criticized Trump for obstructing the investigations surrounding him – including the Mueller probe – by abusing his power as president.
“It is not something the president is entitled to do — to direct either a prosecution and or to decide to drop a case,” Biden said. “What’s going on is an absolute travesty. A travesty of justice. That will not happen, I guarantee you.”
