President-Elect Biden is privately saying that he doesn’t want his tenure as president to be consumed by investigations of Trump, despite pressure from Democrats.
Biden’s concerns are centered on the division it would create in the country, as well as the focus continuing to be on Trump instead of fixing the country and moving on.
Biden’s priorities will be the economy, the coronavirus, climate change and race relations, not looking back at the Trump administration.
Biden specifically cited federal tax investigations of Trump and any orders that Trump may issue that would grant immunity to his staff.
Biden is looking for a reset between the White House and the Department of Justice, wanting his DOJ to function independently and not politicized as it was under Trump.
Biden’s team is also reluctant to send any signal to Trump administration officials that the Justice Department wouldn’t look into their actions, given that there are still nine weeks until the inauguration, another person briefed about the discussions said.
Any decisions by Biden’s Justice Department regarding Trump, his staff, his associates, his business or his policies wouldn’t affect investigations by state officials, including Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who has fought to obtain Trump’s tax returns.
Complete story is at NBC News.
