Within hours of Joe Biden’s inauguration, President Donald Trump pardoned 73 people and commuted the sentences of 70 others, including his former adviser Steve Bannon. “He does not grant pardons, preventive immunity, to members of his family” while it was “easy” for him to do it, Jean-Éric Branaa, specialist in the United States, lecturer at the University of Assas-Paris II explained Wednesday, January 20 on franceinfo. It is rather “in the spotlight” of the American president, estimates Jen-Éric Branaa. In December, Donald Trump had already pardoned the father of Jared Kushner, his young son-in-law and adviser.
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franceinfo: What do you think of these presidential graces granted by Donaldu Trump on the last day of his mandate?
Jean-Éric Branaa: What everyone looked at was if Donald Trump was going to make one last provocation before leaving by trying to grant himself the pardon. He didn’t go that far. But it seems logical that he doesn’t because it would have been too much of a provocation. Senators would appreciate little and they have the fate of Donald Trump in their hands as a trial [pour destitution] will open very soon.
“What is interesting is that he does not grant a pardon, preventive immunity to members of his family. He leaves them to fend for themselves while prosecutions are going to be opened, in particular against his eldest son who heads the Trump consortium. “
Jean-Éric Branaa, specialist in the United Statesto franceinfo
It is rather to his credit because it was easy to do it. We also note the absence of Snowden and Assange, which has been talked about a lot on the Trumpist networks in recent days. He had announced several times that he was not going to do it. The nationalist side has returned, with Steve Bannon in the foreground. They’ve been talking a lot over the phone over the past few days, but in reality Bannon had never really left the Trumpist world, he had been seen attending a very important dinner a year and a half ago.
What will Donald Trump do in the future?
He would like to create his own party, the Patriots’ Party, it is a rumor which is becoming very insistent and which is echoed by several press organs on Wednesday morning in the United States. It seems pretty crazy since the American system does not favor the emergence of a third party. There are EUnited States one rule: whoever is in the lead wins everything (“winner takes all”). So there are only two parties that can really live in such an electoral system. This would mean that Donald Trump would bet on the clinical death of the Republican Party, but at that point we wonder why not keep this party which is already under his belt. The polls have stopped falling to stabilize between 34% and 40%. This means that Donald Trump has lost almost nothing since the election despite this denial of recognition of the election of Joe Biden and this relentless fight he waged against the entire American electoral system.
What tone should we expect from Joe Biden’s inauguration speech?
We’re going to talk about unity. We will have the rest of his campaign. He put forward the idea that there was a common enemy, the Covid. There are four crises that need to be resolved. The health crisis is the first emergency, the economic crisis, the social crisis for EUnited States and the environmental crisis for the world. These are the four priorities of Joe Biden and this is what he will recall today without necessarily hitting the camp opposite, but by reaching out and saying that it is all together that Americans can raise.
