Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made waves on NBC’s “Meet the Press” by urging President Biden to grant pardons to lawmakers who investigated Donald Trump’s involvement in the January 6th Capitol events.
Sanders sharply criticized Trump’s idea of prosecuting the January 6th committee members, saying, “You know, when Trump talks about sending to jail people who were on that January 6th committee, that sounds like being a tinpot dictator.”
Calling for strong protective measures, Sanders said, “I would hope that we have an FBI and a Justice Department that protects the civil liberties of the American people and does its best to protect the American democracy.”
Trump, who has promised to consider pardoning those involved in the Capitol attack early in his potential presidency, drew concerns from Sanders, who advocated for Biden to preemptively pardon the congressional investigators.
“I think he might want to consider that very seriously,” Sanders suggested during the interview.
Sanders didn’t hold back on his portrayal of a Trump administration, describing it as revenge-driven and authoritarian.
“This is what authoritarianism is all about. It’s what dictatorship is all about,” Sanders stated sharply. “You do not arrest elected officials who disagree with you.”
When reflecting on Trump’s vision, Sanders dismissed it, saying, “I think that idea of Trump is not going to go very far. It is so – quite outrageous.”
Digging deeper into controversial pardons, Sanders also weighed in on President Biden’s decision to pardon his son, Hunter Biden, labeling it a “dangerous” precedent, though he showed some sympathy for Biden’s reasoning.
He commented, “When you have his opponents going after his family, as a father, as a parent, I think we can all understand Biden trying to protect his son and his family.”
Yet, the Vermont Senator voiced caution, adding, “On the other hand, I think the precedent being set is kind of a dangerous one. It was a very – a wide-open pardon, which could, under different circumstances, lead to problems in terms of future presidents.”
When asked whether Hunter Biden’s pardon might tarnish Biden’s legacy as a one-term president, Sanders sidestepped a direct judgment in the interview.
Switching gears, he spoke about public outrage toward the insurance industry after the assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
When questioned about Senator Elizabeth Warren’s reaction—“you can only push people so far and then they start to take matters into their own hands”—and whether it was an appropriate moment to critique healthcare policy, Sanders stood by Warren.
“Elizabeth Warren obviously understands killing and murder and shooting somebody in the back is totally unacceptable,” Sanders clarified.
But he turned the conversation toward a broader critique of the U.S. healthcare system, saying, “What I think has happened in the last few months is that what you have seen rising up is people’s anger at a health insurance industry which denies people the health care that they desperately need while they make billions and billions of dollars in profit.”
Sanders pointed out the injustice of the act, stating emphatically, “Killing anybody, shooting somebody in the back who was the father of two, is outrageous. And it’s unacceptable. Nobody, nobody should applaud it.”
He sought to redirect attention to the core issues, asking, “Why we are the only major country on Earth not to guarantee health care to all people, why we have a life expectancy which is significantly lower than in other countries, why working-class people die five to 10 years shorter than the people on top?”
Sanders passionately remarked, “The goal of health care is not to make drug companies and insurance companies phenomenally rich, it is to guarantee quality care to all of our people.”
His comments underscored his strong views on the current system, saying that it’s “long overdue for us to guarantee health care to every man, woman, and child, especially at a time when we’re spending twice as much per capita on health care as the people of every other nation.”
Watch Sanders on “Meet The Press” here:
If you haven’t done anything that a real justice department wouldn’t charge you with,then why do you need a pardon?
Everything that bernie sanders said not to do is exactly what brandon and his crew of perverts have been doing for four years. A preemptive pardon is saying that “I don’t know what you did, but I know you did something. Therefore I forgive you for it.” This is the exact opposite of what President Trump has said he wants to do. The J6 committee was a kangaroo court of unconstitutional proceedings, illegal conviction and inhumane sentences. Typical democrat proceedings.
Sander is nothing more than a puppet trying to pretend that whatever he says is important. I believe he needs to resign and get his real end out as soon as possible. He is a worthless piece of garbage. However, it’s the people’s fault for voting for him. Sander needs to look at the mirror and ask himself a question: Am I being honest with myself and the American people? The answer to that is a resounding, overwhelming NOoooo!
If laws were broken prosecute the politicians