President Donald Trump says he is open to preemptively pardoning members of his administration and family if Democrats take Congress in the midterms and come after them.
"Yeah, sure I'd do that," Trump said in a wide-ranging interview with TIME magazine, when asked whether he was considering pardons before leaving office.
He tied the idea to his predecessor's record. "Well, Sleepy Joe Biden, he gave pardons to everyone," Trump said, citing Biden's late-term preemptive pardons for Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, January 6 committee members and staff, and Biden's own family.
"Sleepy Joe gave pardons to everybody... But you mean I'm not allowed to give them, but Sleepy Joe's allowed to give them?" Trump said.
Democrats have openly discussed investigating Trump's family and cabinet officials if they win the House. Trump named no specific individuals for clemency. The Constitution gives the president broad federal pardon power, though it does not extend to state offenses.
What to watch next: whether Trump puts any pardons in motion before the midterms — or keeps the threat as leverage.