PALM BEACH COUNTY — President Donald Trump voiced openness toward preemptively pardoning junior officials within his administration to shield them from potential Democratic-led congressional probes following the 2026 midterm elections.
The president fielded questions from reporters for nearly 20 minutes after casting his own 2026 votes at the offices of the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Saturday afternoon.
Trump told the Washington Examiner he had not yet considered the idea but was “allowed to.”
“I haven’t thought of it but I will tell you, it would be very unfair to go through what we went through for four years with the corrupt weaponization that took place,” he stated. “Biden shielded many people, including the Congress. If you look at what they did with Congress when they set up the special committee, which was a fraud, they all got shielded.”
“I haven’t thought about it, but certainly I’d be allowed to,” Trump continued. “The presidential pardons are, they say, the most powerful thing a president has. I certainly don’t want to see innocent people go through hell.”
The president proceeded to repeatedly say he didn’t want staffers such as White House communications advisor Margot Martin, who was standing alongside the traveling press pool, to “lose all their money.”
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“If she becomes a target — you know she’s a very honest person — but they’re going to drag her into a grand jury,” Trump stated. “She’s standing right there. Margot, you’re not going to have to worry about it, okay?”
Earlier in the day, the Washington Sun reported that White House attorneys were deliberating on presenting staffers to the president for potential pardons. Democratic lawmakers have signaled for months that, if they take over congressional majorities in November, they plan to launch investigations into administration officials and the business dealings of Trump’s family members.