Former FBI Director James Comey said Thursday that he \u201cnever\u201d considered asking former President Biden for a preemptive pardon before President Trump returned to office last year and wouldn\u2019t have accepted one if given.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Comey responded after CNN\u2019s Kasie Hunt asked him whether he thought Biden might have granted him one if requested. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have accepted it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Comey, who has been indicted by Trump\u2019s Justice Department twice, defended his stance against accepting presidential pardons by pointing to a century-old Supreme Court precedent that doing so carried an \u201cimputation of guilt and acceptance of a confession of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s what consoled Gerald Ford when he pardoned Richard Nixon,\u201d Comey said. \u201cHe carried a quote from the case in his wallet till the day he died, because it meant Nixon had admitted guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd so, I\u2019m not guilty. I am innocent, so I wouldn\u2019t be accepting any pardons,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. Constitution gives a sitting president broad authority under Article 2 to grant pardons, clemency and commute individual sentences before, during or after a criminal conviction, excluding cases of impeachment. It is a power that has been regularly exercised by presidents throughout history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden issued a slew of preemptive presidential pardons in the waning weeks of his term for members of his family, their spouses and other perceived political enemies of Trump\u2019s, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and retired Gen. Mark Milley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former president faced intense criticism for those decisions, including from some fellow Democrats who argued the blanket pardon of his son Hunter Biden could undermine the party\u2019s efforts to restore public trust in American institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Comey declined to say Thursday whether he believed those individuals who accepted pardons from the prior administration were guilty of crimes, but he hoped they \u201cthought about it carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The former FBI chief\u2019s comments come as he faces two federal charges in North Carolina in connection with a since-deleted social media post of seashells arranged to read \u201c86 47.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The term \u201c86\u201d is widely used restaurant slang to mean to get rid of, discard or refuse service to someone or something, but federal prosecutors argued the cryptic message constituted a direct threat to the 47th president\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Comey deleted the photo last year amid backlash, saying he was unaware that the numbers could carry a violent connotation and believed it was a \u201cpolitical message.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is the second time that the Justice Department has pursued charges against Comey under what critics see as a pressure campaign from Trump to investigate and prosecute his political foes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Comey said that despite being targeted \u201cobsessively\u201d and \u201crepeatedly\u201d by the Trump administration, he would not be dissuaded from criticizing the president\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m not afraid,\u201d he said, echoing statements he shared after his second indictment. \u201cI won\u2019t talk about a case that\u2019s pending, but I will not stop talking about the threats that this administration poses to the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n