Washington Post editor says newspaper utterly lost its soul after equating Biden, Trump pardons

A longtime associate editor at the Washington Post criticized his own newspaper for an editorial that blasted both President Donald Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, for having “both abused their pardon powers” and “setting dangerous precedents.”David Maraniss, who has spent nearly five decades at the Washington Post, took to social media on Wednesday and bemoaned the fact that his employer “has utterly lost its soul.”“The Washington Post editorial this morning essentially equating Biden’s questionable pardons with Trump’s outrageous Jan.6 pardons was unconscionable,” Maraniss wrote on the Bluesky microblogging platform on Wednesday.“The newspaper I’ve been part of for 48 years has utterly lost its soul.”Maraniss, who has written biographies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, referred to an editorial titled: “Pardons from Biden and Trump flout the rule of law.”“President Joe Biden started the trouble by issuing preemptive pardons for five family members as well as former members of his administration,” the newspaper’s editorial board wrote.“His rash action opens the door for future presidents to likewise immunize their families and staffs from merely theoretical prosecution by their successors — as though future presidents should be considered enemies whose actions must be defended against.”In the next paragraph, the editorial calls out Trump for pardoning those convicted for their roles in the rioting at the US Capitol on Jan.

6, 2021.“His reckless handout risks emboldening militias and others to commit future acts of barbarity in support of political aims.When such violence is tolerated, it happens more often,” the editorial read.The New York Post has sought comment from the Washington Post.Maraniss on Thursday told Status newsletter that it “disheartens” him “to see what is happening in this era of leadership” — a reference to owner Jeff Bezos.Bezos, the Amazon founder, has so far ignored a request from...