‘That Was Egregious’: David Axelrod Pans Biden’s Last Minute Pardons, Says They ‘Gave Trump a Gift’

AP Photo/Morry Gash

Former Obama White House senior adviser David Axelrod tore into former President Joe Biden’s last-minute decision to pardon his family this week, calling the move “egregious” and “a gift” to President Donald Trump.

“That was egregious,” reacted Axelrod on the Hacks on Tap podcast, Tuesday. “That 10 minutes before the inauguration, they announced that he’s pardoned members of his family.”

He continued, “I mean, man up! You know what I mean? Man up, and if you’re gonna do it, do it, but don’t do it literally as you have one foot out the door so you don’t have to explain it or be accountable for it, and what they did was they gave Trump a gift because it fuzzied up the story, the J6 story for him, and you heard him last night.”

Axelrod concluded, “Could you end a presidency as badly as he has? I mean, Trump did.”

Biden pardoned five members of his family, including his two brothers and sister, in the middle of Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

“My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end,” he said. “That is why I am exercising my power under the Constitution to pardon James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden.”

Trump criticized his predecessor’s last-minute decision, arguing that it “makes him look very guilty.”

“Now, maybe every president that leaves office, they’re gonna pardon every person they ever met,” he suggested. “I guess now I have precedent to do it. I wouldn’t want to do that, no. I think it makes you look very guilty. I think it makes Biden look very bad, very weak, and very guilty.”