Joe Biden Considered Pardoning Donald Trump During Bedroom Chat With Wife Jill in 2023, Claims GOP Governor

Former President Joe Biden considered the possibility of pardoning Donald Trump during a private "pillow talk" conversation with First Lady Jill Biden in August 2023, according to an anecdote revealed by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox.

In excerpts from his upcoming book detailed by The Atlantic, the Republican governor recounted pitching the idea of a Trump pardon to Biden in the presidential limousine in Salt Lake City to de-escalate nationwide political tensions.

To Cox's surprise, Biden admitted he had already been mulling it over, sharing that he and Jill had discussed the idea extensively while lying in bed earlier that week.

Cox suggested the pardon to Biden in August 2023 inside the presidential limousine in Salt Lake City.

Biden stated, "You know, I've actually considered this for a while," adding that people were "demanding justice," but he was still entertaining the idea.

Despite Biden appearing highly open to promoting national healing, the pardon never materialized.

The account is published in Cox's book, Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt, scheduled for release in September. The book details Cox's attempts to urge both political leaders toward national unity.

The following year, Cox wrote a letter to Trump urging him to choose unity over retaliation, a plea he notes also failed to materialize as Trump returned to political attacks.

Cox concluded that in both cases, things didn't turn out how he hoped, writing, "It would be fair to suggest I failed."

Cox has recently maintained a complex, dual-track stance on Trump, firmly supporting his policy actions in Utah while openly critiquing his aggressive political rhetoric and his failure to unify the country.

Biden was deeply concerned that prosecuting a former president would set a dangerous precedent. He feared that future Republican administrations would feel justified in weaponizing the Department of Justice to prosecute former Democratic officials out of revenge automatically.

In mid-2023, as Trump's multi-jurisdictional legal troubles began to mount, reporters directly asked Biden whether he would consider a pardon to heal the country.

Biden smiled, waved the question off, called it "a great question," and walked away without giving a substantive public answer.

Ultimately, Biden chose not to issue a pardon to Trump before leaving office.

Instead, in his final acts of clemency, Biden issued preemptive pardons to his own family members (including his son Hunter) and various high-profile Trump targets — such as Dr. Anthony Fauci and members of the January 6th congressional committee — to shield them from what he called "partisan politics" under the incoming administration.