Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Thursday said that if he is elected president he would not use his power to pardon President Trump or stop any investigations into the current president or his administration.
“It is not something the president is entitled to do, to direct a prosecution or decide to drop a case. It’s a dereliction of duty,” the former vice president told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell in an appearance on his show “The Last Word.”
“It’s hands off completely,” Biden added on how he would handle Trump investigations. “The attorney general is not the president’s lawyer. It’s the people’s lawyer. We never saw anything like the prostitution of that office like we see it today.”
President Nixon, the only president to ever resign from office, was pardoned by his vice president and successor, President Ford, after Nixon stepped down following the Watergate scandal in 1974.
Ford would go on to lose the 1976 general election to President Carter.
In December, Trump was impeached by the House over his dealings with Ukraine. Congressional Democrats alleged that Trump misused his power as president by leveraging congressionally approved aid for Ukraine to force the country to investigate Biden and his son.
Trump was acquitted by the Senate in February on a mostly party-line vote.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court began oral arguments in a landmark case regarding Trump’s prior tax documents. Trump’s legal team has argued that his presidential powers shield him from the subpoenas that have been issued for his financial records and tax returns.