[JumpCrisscross]

> Will there be any accountability?

FTA: "SSA referred both DOGE employees for potential violations of the Hatch Act."

Probably nothing under this administration. But there is a paper trail–now cited in public–for folks in the future to pursue.

In the meantime, I'm curious what civil damages they may be liable for.

[toomanyrichies]

Not only will there be no punitive action taken by this admin, but I fully expect Trump to extend the current flurry of lame-duck pardons to most if not all members of his administration, for any and all actions they may have taken, before his term is out.

I hope I’m wrong, but in his 5 years as President he has yet to display any hint of restraint or ethical compass, so I would be very surprised if this doesn’t happen.

EDIT: “to punitive action” => “no punitive action”

[galleywest200]

Surely they must have committed some state crimes, which are not pardonable by the president.

[JumpCrisscross]

> I fully expect Trump to extend the current flurry of lame-duck pardons to most if not all members of his administration

I expect he will. At that point, Biden will have pardoned his son for felony gun and tax crimes, as well as pioneered the preëmptive pardon, while Trump will have pardoned violent insurrections, drug lords, fraudsters and his corrupt inner circle. If that isn’t enough to build consensus on striking pardon power from the Constitution entirely, I don’t know what will be.

[CamperBob2]

Question: what kind of father would fail to protect his son from an endless bullshit performative Republican inquisition that we all know would have happened?

[simmerup]

Especially considering Trump is an obvious vindictive, narcissistic bully who would love to torment Biden

[CamperBob2]

Exactly, that's my point. It's silly to play the game in good faith when you know damned well that you're the only one doing so. At the time Biden promised not to pardon his son, it still seemed vanishingly unlikely that we'd re-elect Trump, and in fact he hadn't even been nominated yet.

So many things changed between June and December 2024. The country's wheels came off, and the undercarriage dragged on the road and caught fire.

[tzs]

Several presidents have given preemptive pardons before Biden: Ford, Carter, the first Bush, and Trump in his first term.