Donald Trump has warned that Joe Biden's failure to pardon himself before leaving office was a “mistake”.
In the days following his inauguration, the Republican president took aim at a number of government officials - including the former president himself.
Speaking to Fox’s Sean Hannity in his first sit-down interview since returning to the White House, Mr Trump criticised Mr Biden’s recent use of the presidential pardon.
Before leaving office, Mr Biden pardoned a number of family members and Trump critics amid concern that the Republicans would target them after resuming office.
“These are exceptional circumstances and I cannot in good conscience do nothing,” Mr Biden said at the time.
This week, Trump appeared to toy with the idea that his successor could face an investigation by suggesting it was a “sad thing” he didn’t pardon himself.
“This guy went around giving everybody pardons,” Trump told the news host. “And you know, the funny thing, maybe the sad thing, is he didn’t give himself a pardon. And if you look at it, it all had to do with him.”
He also added: “Joe Biden has very bad advisers. Somebody advised Joe Biden to give pardons to everybody but him.”
When pressed by Hannity whether this meant Mr Biden could be investigated for his time in office, the twice-impeached president suggested that Congress would have to decide.
Mr Trump also implied that his own investigation had been “hell.”
“I went through four years of hell by this scum that we had to deal with. I went through four years of hell. I spent millions of dollars in legal fees, and I won, but I did it the hard way,” he said.
Mr Trump faced a number of investigations after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, and became the first president convicted of a felony in 2024.
In the days since returning to the White House, Mr Trump has fired a number of federal staff in a clear signal that he plans to shake up the government.
It’s unclear whether he would pursue an investigation into Mr Biden, who has always maintained that he did nothing wrong while in office.
However, Trump has suggested in the past that he could go after Democrat officials and political opponents.
