Former Vice President Joe Biden said during a virtual town hall this week that he would not pardon President Donald Trump if he is elected in November.
Biden made the remarks during a town hall that was broadcast on MSNBC. An audience member asked, “Would you be willing to commit to not pulling a President Ford and giving Donald Trump a pardon under the pretense of healing the nation — in other words, are you willing to commit to the American ideal that no one is above the law?”
The former vice president responded, “Absolutely, yes, I commit.”
In a follow-up, MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell asked, “You’re saying that wherever the investigative trail might lead … that’s hands off for you, you’re not going to say, ‘Let’s just let bygones be bygones?'”
Biden responded, “It’s hands off completely. Look, the Attorney General of the United States is not the president’s lawyer, it’s the peoples’ lawyer.”
He continued, “And you remember when you were there with [Nixon advisor] Pat Moynihan. We never saw anything like the prostitution of that office like we see it today. It is not something the president is entitled to do — to direct either a prosecution and/or to decide to drop a case.”
Biden added:
“That is not the president’s role, responsibility and it’s a dereliction of his duty.”
The former vice president also reflected on the current relationship between Trump and his attorney general, saying, “What’s going on is an absolute travesty, a travesty of justice. That will not happen, I guarantee you.”
Trump has been vocal about the Department of Justice dropping the case against his former aide Michael Flynn.
After the justice department dropped the case against Flynn, Barr denied in an interview that he was “doing the president’s bidding” and said that he had a “duty” to drop the case.