In his 2023 book, “Government Gangsters,” Kash Patel, whom Donald Trump says he intends to nominate as the next director of the F.B.I., named 60 people whom he classified as “members of the executive branch deep state” — a “cabal of unelected tyrants” who posed “the most dangerous threat to our democracy.” Mr. Patel has since said that the incoming Trump administration must deal with the “deep state,” be it “criminally or civilly.”
The White House is reportedly considering whether President Biden should issue blanket pardons for many of Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies, such as the people on Mr. Patel’s list. The goal would be to pre-emptively protect them from groundless and vengeful prosecution.
I’m on Mr. Patel’s list. I don’t want a pardon.
I can’t speak for anyone else on the list, but I would hope that none of them would want a pardon, either. If we broke the law, we should be charged and convicted. If we didn’t break the law, we should be willing to show that we trust the fairness of the justice system that so many of us have defended. And we shouldn’t give permission to future presidents to pardon political allies who may commit real crimes on their behalf.
This past spring, arguing in a brief to the Supreme Court that Mr. Trump shouldn’t have immunity from prosecution, Mr. Biden’s Justice Department reminded the justices that “the executive branch and the criminal justice system contain strong safeguards against groundless prosecutions.” Many former government lawyers — including a number of us on Mr. Patel’s list — were quick to publicly agree, stressing how dangerous and unnecessary such a grant of blanket immunity would be.
We emphasized the importance of the rule of law and the trust we had in the jury system. Yet now that the shoe is on the other foot, suddenly we would accept total immunity from prosecution for anything we did during our time in government?
Mr. Biden has made clear that he is comfortable with that sort of duplicity. Despite having his Justice Department argue against immunity for Mr. Trump, he pardoned his son Hunter on the unconvincing ground that his son was “selectively and unfairly prosecuted” by a special counsel appointed by the president’s own attorney general. But Mr. Biden’s hypocrisy should not be ours.
A pardon would also let Mr. Patel off the hook. If he wants to prosecute everyone on his list, it’s going to require a lot of law enforcement resources. At a time when much of the American public wants the president to focus on inflation, crime and immigration, voters may not be pleased if drug cartels are a lower priority than prosecuting Liz Cheney for treason.
And as Americans start to see his lack of evidence, Mr. Patel will look ridiculous. If anything, he may end up making heroes out of his targets, who would, in turn, be able to raise money for the exorbitant cost of their legal defense from outraged Americans until judges would predictably throw out these frivolous cases.
If I accepted a pardon, Mr. Patel could also claim that it proved the “deep state” rigged the system. He could argue that he would have gotten convictions against all of us, without ever having to make his case — to a jury or to voters.
In case you’re wondering: I have no idea why I’m on Mr. Patel’s list. I did work at the Justice Department during the investigation into the Trump team’s connections with Russia, but so did a whole lot of people who are not named.
I’m hardly the only person whose inclusion is perplexing. Mr. Patel also names Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton. The whole idea of the “deep state” is a group of executive branch employees who work behind the scenes to thwart the president’s agenda. The past three Democratic presidential nominees aren’t the “deep state.” They are Mr. Trump’s political opponents.
Something similar goes for members of the list such as Bill Barr, who served as one of Mr. Trump’s attorneys general; John Bolton, who served as a national security adviser; and Pat Cipollone, his last White House counsel. If you tell the president something he may not want to hear, and he can decide if he wants to fire you, you’re not a member of the “deep state.” You’re an adviser.
Mr. Patel was either too sloppy or too lazy to put together a coherent list, neither of which is a great trait for an F.B.I. director. Or he was never serious about it, which also undermines the case for his confirmation.
Populists and cynics from both political parties want to destroy the rule of law because it’s a lot easier to tear down an institution than to build one. That’s why those of us on Mr. Patel’s list should force him to show his work.
You’ve got a case? Prove it.
The post I Don’t Want a Pardon From Biden. None of Us Should. appeared first on New York Times.
