President Joe Biden should offer former President Donald Trump a pardon in exchange for a guarantee that he will end his bid to regain the presidency in 2024, according to veteran newsman Geraldo Rivera.
Rivera explained why he thinks Biden offering the former president clemency from federal prosecution “is a good idea” in a tweet on Tuesday. The co-host of Fox News’ The Five has previously described himself as a “friend” of Trump, although his relationship with the former president soured following Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Trump, who is already facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York, could potentially be hit with federal charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s dual investigations into his January 6 activities and issues surrounding his post-presidency handling of classified documents.
The former president has not been charged with or convicted of any federal crime and denies any wrongdoing. Rivera compared the prospect of Biden preemptively pardoning Trump to then-President Gerald Ford’s controversial 1974 pardon of former President Richard Nixon for any potential crimes related to the Watergate scandal.
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“Biden pardoning Trump—the way Ford pardoned Nixon—IS a good idea,” Rivera tweeted. “This clemency to include inciting the violence of January 6th, the Mar-a-Lago documents case & any other federal allegation.”
“Clemency would require a pledge by Trump that he will no longer seek the presidency,” he added.
Newsweek has reached out to the White House and the office of Trump via email for comment.
Rivera’s tweet on Tuesday expanded on his own earlier tweet from Monday, when he first described a Biden pardon of Trump as “a good idea” in reaction to a recent viral video of the current president laughing off the idea.
The video, which had more than 7.1 million Twitter views at the time of publication, features Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asking the president about recent reports that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Trump’s GOP presidential primary rival, is open to pardoning the former president if he wins the 2024 election.
“Where are you on the idea of presidents pardoning Trump?” Doocy asks Biden in the video, prompting the president to chuckle and walk away before saying “great question” while leaving the query unanswered.
Regardless of who wins the 2024 presidential election, Trump cannot be pardoned for any conviction related to the state felony charges in New York, as presidential pardons only apply to federal crimes.
Trump could also be facing future felony charges in Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is leading a grand jury investigation into the former president’s attempts to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory in the Peach State.
Rivera previously expressed support for Biden pardoning Trump within weeks of the current president’s 2021 inauguration, saying during a Fox News broadcast in February of the same year that a pardon would be “a happy ending to this unsavory chapter in American history.”