NEW - Biden says "The president wrote a very generous letter," referring to Trump. "Because it was private, I won't talk about it until I talk to him. But it was generous."
This taken from the US Military Voice Telegram Channel.
I'm betting the 'generosity' was the deal Biden cut with Trump...
You can't pardon people who haven't been convicted of anything.
Yeah I already said I stood corrected.
What would you be pardoning?
Are you hearing yourself? You pardon people for crimes they were convicted of. Are you suggesting Presidents just go around pardoning people for no reason? To shield them from some future prosecution maybe? Are you aware of that ever happening? How many people have US Presidents pardoned that weren't found guilty of a crime? Of what value would be the pardon.
No you can't. To pardon someone, that person must have pleaded guilty of the crime first - or convicted.
For instance Trump pardoned Flynn, after he was officially convicted. In 2017 Flynn himself admitted to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russia's ambassador... but then tried to withdraw his plea. Either way, that's how Trump was able to pardon him, because he was proven guilty (in the justice system). And this will forever be in his biography now, that he was guilty but got a pardon.
Not unlike how Trump again pardoned another felon, Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne was carrying a gun while already beign a felon which was illegal. Being officially convicted of a crime, Trump was able to pardon him.
Point is, the crime has to be officially recognized as such before someone can be pardoned. The whole thing about the pardon is telling someone that despite their crime, they will walk free. And you can't pardon someone who comitted no crimes.
In Ex parte Garland, 71 U.S. 333 (1866), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
The power of pardon conferred by the Constitution upon the President is unlimited except in cases of impeachment. It extends to every offence known to the law, and may be exercised at any time after its commission, either before legal proceedings are taken or during their pendency, or after conviction and judgment. The power is not subject to legislative control.
A pardon reaches the punishment prescribed for an offence and the guilt of the offender. If granted before conviction, it prevents any of the penalties and disabilities consequent upon conviction from attaching; if granted after conviction, it removes the penalties and disabilities and restores him to all his civil rights. It gives him a new credit and capacity. There is only this limitation to its operation: it does not restore offices forfeited, or property of interests vested in others in consequence of the conviction and judgment.
This is still established law today. So you're, like, super wrong.