Joy Behar blames Gerald Ford for a possible Trump pardon
Julia Johnson
Video Embed
Joy Behar blamed former President Gerald Ford on Thursday for a possible pardon of former President Donald Trump if he is convicted by federal prosecutors.
The View hosts speculated about whether 2024 Republican candidates would pardon Trump if they were elected president. According to Behar, the only reason the discussion is being had is because of Ford, the 38th president who died in 2006.
FOOD STAMPS: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE SNAP BENEFITS PROGRAM
Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon in 1974, minutes after being sworn into office. Nixon was pardoned for any crimes he committed while in office. The former president and his aides participated in illegal activity in the Watergate scandal, which involved the men attempting to cover up a 1972 burglary of the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters, located at the Watergate Office Building in Washington, D.C.
Republican presidential candidates are being prompted as to whether they would pardon Trump, who was charged with 37 counts in relation to his handling of classified documents, if they were to be elected.
iFrame Object
“The fact that Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon has set the stage for what we’re experiencing right now,” Behar said. “They should not have pardoned him.”
“His attorney general, John Mitchell, went to prison. His two lieutenants [John Ehrlichman] and [H.R. Haldeman]: prison,” she reminded the hosts.
Ehrlichman was Nixon’s top domestic affairs adviser, Haldeman served as chief of staff, and Mitchell was attorney general.
In 1975, all three men were sentenced to 2 1/2 to 8 years in prison for their respective roles in the cover-up of Watergate.
Behar noted that Nixon did not go to prison “because he was president.”
“So that gives Trump this idea that he’s not going to go to jail because someone is going to bail him out,” she explained. “It’s not going to be himself. It will be some other Republican.”
Sunny Hostin agreed, saying, “It could be a President Pence. It could be a President Haley. It could be a President DeSantis.”
Whoopi Goldberg later chimed in, suggesting that America should change “the Constitution to make it say you cannot be in jail and be the president.”
According to her, “This is going to keep biting us in the behind.”
“An amendment would be nice,” Hostin said.
“If I can’t vote when I come out of jail, why can you be president,” Goldberg said.
Hostin said, “Amendments are very American.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The former president was arraigned on Tuesday after being charged with 37 counts by the Department of Justice, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information.
Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges.