In the final days of U.S. President Joe Biden's term in the White House, a rumor circulated online claiming he privately considered pardoning President-elect Donald Trump. According to the users' posts, NBC News reported on the matter.
A presidential pardon would free Trump of the possibility of future consequences for crimes involving federal classified documents and federal election interference. A pardon would not impact state-level charges against him pertaining to the Georgia election-interference and New York hush-money cases.
The rumor first appeared online on Jan. 16, 2025. An X user posted (archived), "Biden has privately discussed the idea of pardoning Trump, according to NBC News, citing a source. It's not clear if he's seriously considering it." Another user similarly published (archived), "BREAKING: Biden reportedly discussed the possibility of pardoning Trump in private, per NBC."
We also located users sharing the same rumor on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, Truth Social and X, as well as news media outlets Breitbart and Times Now reporting the matter.
As of this writing, the rumor that Biden has considered pardoning Trump lacks sufficient evidence necessary to establish its veracity. We reached out to the NBC writers for information and will update this story if we hear back.
NBC News Article and White House Statement
On Jan. 16, NBC News published an article on NBCNews.com, featuring the headline, "'One of the great tragedies of American politics': Biden ends 5 decades in public life."
Several paragraphs into the story, the authors wrote, "Many Democrats are blaming Biden for handing the White House to Donald Trump, criticizing the aging politician for staying in office too long and reeling after he pardoned his son. Exacerbating the frustrations, Biden recently expressed doubt about his ability to serve another four years after dismissing voters' concerns about that very issue as he sought re-election."
The next paragraph featured the source material for the claim Biden once privately considered pardoning Trump. The authors wrote Biden "privately mused" the option as a "magnanimous move" and cited "a person directly familiar with his comments." The article continued, noting of Biden, "though it's not clear he seriously considered it." The full paragraph read:
The president harbors similar resentment toward members of his own party. After the November election, he privately mused about the idea of pardoning Trump as a magnanimous move, according to a person directly familiar with his comments, though it's not clear he seriously considered it. A White House official said "to our knowledge, this was not raised." At the same time, Biden is not on speaking terms with some of his closest allies.
White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates affirmed the same information to Snopes via email, writing, "To our knowledge, this was not raised."
NBC News' article suggests the possibility Biden thought about pardoning Trump. Bates' White House statement casts some doubt on the matter. However, the inclusion of the statement's "to our knowledge" leaves room for the purported private consideration of the pardon. As of this writing, without further evidence, the rumor Biden considered pardoning Trump stands as unsubstantiated.