GOP governor reveals Biden's surprising response when he made a Trump pitch in 2023

WASHINGTON, DC: Republican governor Spencer Cox made a surprising revelation that former President Joe Biden considered giving a pardon to President Donald Trump.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox discussed his new book with The Atlantic's McKay Coppins, who published excerpts that included two separate stories involving Biden and Trump.

During the interview published on Thursday, August 27, Cox recalled sitting with then-President Biden in August 2023 in a limousine in Salt Lake City and pitching him on pardoning Trump, who was then facing numerous legal battles, including a fraud case in New York.

Joe Biden considered pardoning Trump

“Mr President, I know this might sound crazy, but I think you should pardon Donald Trump,” Cox recalled telling Biden in his book 'Off Ramp: How to Be a Peacemaker in an Age of Contempt', which will be released on September 8.

“You know, I’ve actually considered this for a while,” Cox claimed Biden told him. “In fact, just this week as we were lying in bed, Jill and I had a long conversation about it.”

While Biden said he was seriously considering pardoning Trump, it never actually happened.

Trump at the time was the Republican frontrunner for president, a man who had promised to drive “Sleepy Joe” out of office.

Trump has referred to Biden with several names, such as “enemy of the state,” “most corrupt president we’ve ever had,” and “worst president in the history of our country.”

Spencer Cox didn't back Trump before assassination attempt

During the interview, Cox also recalled a separate story, revealing that he did not like President Trump and didn’t support him before the assassination attempt during an election campaign in 2024 in Butler.

However, after the attack, Cox offered his endorsement to Trump and pushed for him to embrace a more civil approach to politics in a letter.

“You have the opportunity to do something that no other person on earth can do right now: unify and save our country,” the governor wrote in his letter.

Cox said he was also disappointed that this did not happen, seeing Trump go back to his usual attacks on his political foes.

“When I spoke with President Biden, I hoped he would choose mercy over escalation,” Cox wrote about the experiences. “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.”