Fox News’ The Five co-host Geraldo Rivera received a wave of criticism on Friday after he called on President Joe Biden to pardon former President Donald Trump in exchange for Trump dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
“As I have said consistently, President Biden should stop this tortured nonsense immediately,” wrote Rivera on Twitter following news of Trump’s indictment. “In exchange for former President Trump dropping out of the race for the White House, Biden should pardon him for any and all federal allegations.”
The unpopular suggestion led to backlash from both Trump supporters and critics.
“You and Rachel Maddow have given away the game,” reacted former US Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark. “It’s completely unconstitutional for DOJ to try to lever Trump out of the race under pain of criminal penalty.”
The group ‘Republicans Against Trump’, meanwhile, responded simply with a “Hell no.”
Rivera’s proposal was so controversial that the Fox News host became one of Twitter’s top trending topics on Friday evening.
However, it wasn’t the first time that Rivera had proposed a pardon for Trump in exchange for the Republican primary frontrunner dropping out of the race.
In May, Rivera tweeted, “Biden pardoning Trump — the way Ford pardoned Nixon — IS a good idea.”
“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 suggested.
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