Utah Gov. Spencer Cox claimed in his upcoming book that Joe Biden considered pardoning President Trump in August 2023.
According to The Atlantic, Cox suggested pardoning Trump while sitting across from Biden in Salt Lake City.
“Mr. President, I know this might sound crazy,” Cox said, according to the outlet.
“But I think you should pardon Donald Trump,” he added.
However, Cox said Biden revealed he had already considered pardoning Trump.
Joe Biden considered pardoning Trump during pillow talk with Jill, GOP governor says https://t.co/GNYJi43Jvl pic.twitter.com/4O98atDnEo
— New York Post (@nypost) August 28, 2026
The Atlantic shared further:
Trump was, at the time, facing criminal charges in multiple jurisdictions. He was also the Republican front-runner for president—a man who had promised to drive “Sleepy Joe” (a.k.a. “Enemy of the State,” a.k.a. “Most Corrupt President We’ve Ever Had,” a.k.a. “Worst President in the History of Our Country”) from the White House and imprison members of the “Biden crime family.”
Cox had no loyalty to Trump; though a Republican, Cox had never voted for him and was hoping that his party would nominate someone else in 2024. But he believed that prosecuting a former president would deepen the country’s political crisis. A pardon by Biden, he argued, could deescalate tensions and interrupt the cycle of partisan retribution.
To Cox’s surprise, Biden perked up at the suggestion. “You know, I’ve actually considered this for a while,” Biden said. “In fact, just this week as we were lying in bed, Jill and I had a long conversation about it.” Biden said that although people were “demanding justice” for Trump, he would seriously consider a pardon.
Cox left the limousine convinced it was a real possibility. Of course, it never happened.
The outlet noted that Cox reached out to Trump after the attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“You have the opportunity to do something that no other person on earth can do right now: unify and save our country,” Cox wrote in a letter to Trump.
Cox would later endorse Trump in July 2024.
The Republican governor described his encounters with Biden and Trump in his new book, Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt, which will be released next month.
“When I spoke with President Biden, I hoped he would choose mercy over escalation,” Cox writes, according to The Atlantic.
“When I wrote to President Trump, I hoped he would choose unity over retaliation. In both cases, things didn’t turn out quite the way I’d hoped,” he continued.
“It would be fair to suggest I failed,” Cox added.
In his new book, Spencer Cox says he tried to persuade Biden to pardon Trump and to persuade Trump to become a more unifying figure—all part of what Cox frames as thwarted but worthwhile attempts at depolarization, @mckaycoppins reports. https://t.co/GNddklnKQy
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) August 28, 2026
More from the New York Post:
The federal cases against Trump, as well as the Georgia case, were dismissed after he defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts at the end of his Manhattan trial.
A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
A few months before his conversation with Cox, Biden was asked by Fox News reporter Peter Doocy about potentially pardoning Trump.
Biden cracked a smile and waved the question off, before replying, “I’ll see you guys” and calling it “a great question.”
