A longtime associate editor at the Washington Post criticized his own newspaper for an editorial that blasted both President Trump and his predecessor, President 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 more than 400 of the newspaper’s staffers to visit the newsroom in the wake of an exodus of talent sparked by the decision to spike an endorsement of then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
A large chunk of the newspaper’s left-leaning readership was so outraged by the move that a reported 250,000 subscribers canceled their memberships.
“People are in utter despair,” a Washington Post staffer told Status. The newsletter said Washington Post employees found it “confounding … as to why Bezos insists on maintaining ownership of the newspaper.”
“While he once seemed to take pride in owning it, and perhaps even enjoyed that the outlet served as a bulwark against Trump in his first term, that no longer seems to be the case,” Oliver Darcy wrote in Status.
The Post has sought comment from Bezos.
In recent weeks, the Washington Post has parted ways with several high-profile reporters and editors who have decamped for other media outlets.
Philip Rucker, the highly regarded national editor, left for CNN, while longtime opinion columnist and Trump-basher Jennifer Rubin resigned to join Substack.
Ann Telnaes, the newspaper’s cartoonist, resigned after the publication refused to print her cartoon mocking Bezos and other tech moguls as being too subservient to Trump.
Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, two national political reporters, left for The Atlantic while investigative political reporter Josh Dawsey quit to join the Wall Street Journal.
Morale at the Washington Post has been further damaged by recent layoffs of staffers on the business side.
Management at the newspaper has also laid down the law and told staffers that they are welcome to submit their resignation if they refuse to return to the office five days per week.
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