Biden on his last day in office pardoned in advance everyone Trump had threatened to punish

One of Joe Biden's final acts as president was to pardon Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired General Mark Milley, and members of the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack. Biden's actions are aimed at preventing possible "revenge" from the new Trump administration, writes Associated Press.

Photo: Biden © Sonnenbergshots | Dreamstime.com

Biden’s decision on Jan. 20 came after President Donald Trump warned of an “enemies list” of people who had crossed paths with him politically or sought to impeach him for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and his role in the storming of the Capitol. Trump has appointed people to his administration who have supported his claims of a “rigged election” and promised to punish those involved in investigations into him.

“These pardons should not be taken as an admission that anyone has committed wrongdoing, and their acceptance should not be interpreted as an admission of guilt for any wrongdoing,” Biden said.

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The prospect of such pardons has been discussed for months at the highest levels of the White House administration. The president typically uses pardons at the end of his term for Americans already convicted of crimes.

Trump, after his inauguration, said Biden had pardoned people who were “very guilty of very serious crimes.” He even called them “political thugs.”

Biden, a Democrat, used the power of the supreme act in its broadest sense, pardoning those who were not even under investigation. His decision lays the groundwork for even more extensive use of the pardon power by future presidents, including Trump, a Republican.

While the Supreme Court ruled last year that presidents enjoy broad protections from prosecution for actions that may be considered official, that does not extend to their aides and allies. There is concern that future presidents could use the promise of sweeping pardons to encourage allies to take actions they might otherwise hesitate to take for fear of breaking the law.

“I continue to believe that granting clemency to a committee that was doing such important work to uphold the law was unnecessary and, because of the precedent it would set, unwise,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who served on the committee. “But I certainly understand why President Biden took this step.”

It remains unclear whether those pardoned by Biden will have to formally apply for clemency, which could be seen as a tacit admission of guilt. That would indirectly validate years of accusations by Trump and his supporters, even though those pardoned have not been formally accused of any crimes.

The "full and unconditional" pardons for Fauci and Milley cover the period since January 1, 2014.

“These are extraordinary circumstances, and my conscience requires me to take certain actions,” Biden explained. “Even if people have done nothing wrong, and even if they have done the right thing and are ultimately exonerated, the very fact of being investigated or prosecuted can cause irreparable harm to their reputations and financial standing.”

Fauci served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health for nearly 40 years, including during Trump’s presidency. He then served as Biden’s chief medical adviser until his retirement in 2022. Fauci helped coordinate the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic and drew the ire of Trump when he opposed his untested public health ideas. Since then, Fauci has become a target of hate and criticism from the right, who blame him for mandating masks and other measures they see as violating their rights, even as the virus has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

“Despite the accomplishments my colleagues and I have made over the years of public service, I have been the target of politically motivated threats of investigation and prosecution,” Fauci said. “These threats are completely baseless. Let’s be clear: I have committed no crime.”

Milley, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Trump a fascist and detailed his behavior in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection. He expressed gratitude to Biden for the pardon.

“I don’t want to waste the rest of my God-given time fighting those who may unjustly seek revenge for perceived wrongs,” he said. “I don’t want my family, friends, and those I’ve served with to waste time, money, and stress.”

Biden extended the pardon to members and staff of the January 6 commission, including officers from the U.S. Capitol Police and the Washington Metropolitan Police who testified before the commission about their involvement in the events of that day, when an angry and violent mob of Trump supporters overran the building. It is a “full and unconditional pardon” for any offenses “that they may have committed or to which they may have been involved in connection with activities or matters related to the events under investigation.”

The commission spent 6 months investigating Trump and the events of January 18. It was led by Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, and then-Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican who had pledged to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and campaigned against Trump.

In its final report, the commission concluded that Trump "engaged in a multi-stage conspiracy" to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election and failed to take steps to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol.

"Instead of admitting their responsibility, the perpetrators of the January 6 attack used every opportunity to intimidate the members of the Special Commission. They tried to rewrite history, erase the stain of January 6 for political gain and to take revenge, including by threatening criminal prosecution."

Biden's statement did not include the names of dozens of commission members and staff members, some of whom did not know they would be pardoned until the announcement, a person familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.

Cheney and Thompson issued a statement on behalf of the commission expressing gratitude for the decision, noting that they were "pardoned not for breaking the law, but for following it."

"These are truly 'exceptional circumstances' when government employees are being pardoned to avoid government prosecution for their good faith work in Congress to expose the facts of a months-long criminal attempt to overturn the will of the voters after the 2020 election, including incitement of insurrection.", - said in a statement.

But the scope of legal protections provided by pardons may not completely shield lawmakers or their staffs from other types of investigations, particularly from Congress. Republicans on Capitol Hill are likely to retain broad powers to scrutinize the commission's actions, as the Republican-controlled House did in the last Congress.

Biden, a stickler for institutional traditions, promised a smooth transition by inviting Trump to the White House and assuring the country would weather the storm. But in his farewell address, he warned of the growing influence of the oligarchy. Biden has long voiced concerns that Trump’s return to power would threaten democracy. His decision to break political norms was motivated by those concerns.

Biden set a presidential record for individual pardons and sentence reductions. He pardoned his son Hunter for tax and gun crimes. Joe Biden pardoned his siblings and their spouses in his final hours in office to protect relatives from potential retaliation.

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He is not the first president to consider such preemptive pardons. Trump aides discussed the possibility of such moves against Trump himself and his supporters involved in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election that culminated in the storming of the Capitol. But Trump’s pardon never materialized before his term ended four years ago.

President Gerald Ford granted the «full, free and absolute pardon» his predecessor Richard Nixon for the Watergate scandal.

Trump has promised to pardon many of those who took part in the storming of the Capitol.

Former police officer Michael Fanone, who collapsed and suffered a heart attack after a rioter used a Taser on him, was one of the officers who testified before Congress during the investigation into the events of January 6, 2021. Fanone said he learned of Biden's latest pardon from a journalist, which he said was done to protect him and his entire family from the "party of revenge."

«I haven't realized it yet," he said. — I just can't believe this is my country."

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