Biden’s Pardons during last hours as President

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President Joe Biden on Monday issued preemptive pardons for Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci and members of Congress who served on the committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, using extraordinary executive prerogative as a shield against revenge by his incoming successor, Donald Trump.

The pardons, coming in the final hours of Biden’s presidency, amount to a stunning flex of presidential power that is unprecedented in recent presidential history. They serve to protect several outspoken critics of the incoming president, including former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, whom Trump has vowed retribution against.

“These are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing,” Biden wrote in a statement, issued hours before he was set to welcome Trump to the White House for tea before attending his swearing-in. “Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety and financial security of targeted individuals and their families.”

Biden: Protection outweighs implication

Biden had been weighing issuing the pardons in the waning days of his presidency, concerned Trump would enter office and immediately seek to prosecute his adversaries. In his statement, he spelled out his rationale, saying “alarmingly, public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties.”

The recipients of Biden’s pardons have all faced intense criticism from Trump and his allies.

Fauci served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Disease for decades, including during the outbreak of Covid in Trump’s first presidency, and Milley served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump’s first term and has warned Trump is a fascist.

Biden, in his statement, noted that the pardons did not denote guilt.

“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense. Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country,” he wrote.

As he weighed preemptive pardons over the past several days, the president has made clear in conversations with aides that he does not believe those who received them were guilty of any crimes – and voiced concern that pardoning them could connote guilt, according to people familiar with the conversations.

Ultimately, Biden put aside those concerns with the view that providing protection would outweigh the potential implication of guilt.

In doing so, he is taking a step that’s unprecedented in presidential history. Preemptive pardons on such a sweeping scale have never previously been issued. When President Gerald Ford pardoned his predecessor, Richard Nixon, the 37th president was facing a real threat of prosecution. None of those on Biden’s list appeared at risk of imminent legal action, but Biden believed the threat was real enough that protection was necessary.

Lawmakers stunned, pardonees ‘grateful’
Multiple members of Congress who served on the committee investigating the attack on the Capitol were stunned to learn of the decision, according to multiple sources. They did not receive a heads-up that it was happening and one person said they still do not even know what the pardon is for, the sources said.

Taylor Budowich, Trump’s incoming deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel, said that Biden’s pardons “will go down as the greatest attack on America’s justice system in history.”

“With the stroke of a pen, he unilaterally shielded a group of political cronies from the scales of justice. This is yet another dangerous and unreversible erosion of American norms,” Budowich posted to X.

In a statement to CNN, Milley said he and his family were “deeply grateful” for Biden’s action.

“After forty-three years of faithful service in uniform to our nation, protecting and defending the Constitution, I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights,” Milley said. “I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety.”

Former Capitol Hill police officer Harry Dunn expressed his thanks to Biden for the decision.

“I am eternally grateful to President Joe Biden, not just for this preemptive pardon, but for his leadership and service to this nation, especially over the last four years. I wish this pardon weren’t necessary, but unfortunately, the political climate we are in now has made the need for one somewhat of a reality. I, like all of the other public servants, was just doing my job and upholding my oath, and I will always honor that.”

Fauci added that he was “very appreciative” of the preemptive pardon, though he didn’t ask for it.

“As (Biden) said, we did nothing wrong, but the baseless accusations and threats are real for me and my family,” Fauci said.

Several former DOJ officials who served during the Biden administration expressed skepticism over Biden’s preemptive pardons, saying they ultimately may not be effective protective tools and could usher in a new era of presidential pardons.

The recipients could now become targets of other probes, another former official said.

Some of those who were issued the last-minute pardons did not get a heads up, a person familiar told CNN.

Biden said Trump’s rhetoric weighed on his decision
Earlier this month, the president told reporters one factor weighing in his decision is whether Trump telegraphed any of his intentions for possible prosecution of his political opponents in the days leading up to his inauguration.

“It depends on some of the language and expectations that Trump broadcasts in the last couple of days here as to what he’s going to do,” the president said when asked about what pardons and commutations he’s considering.

“The idea that he would punish people for not adhering to what he thinks should be policy as it related to his well-being is outrageous,” Biden said. “But there’s still consideration of some folks, but no decision.”

In an interview with USA Today, Biden said he told Trump during their Oval Office meeting shortly after the president-elect’s November victory that “there was no need, and it was counterintuitive for his interest to go back and try to settle scores.”

Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger and California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff have said they do not want preemptive pardons.

Jesse Binnall, one of Trump’s primary private attorneys working on lawsuits related to January 6, pointed out on social media a major reason the legal community was skeptical of Biden’s preemptive pardons before Monday: It makes it easier to force testimony.

“The pardons are actually great news. No one who was just pardoned will be able to refuse to testify in a civil, criminal, or congressional proceeding based upon the 5th Amendment,” Binnall wrote.

ust minutes before leaving office, Joe Biden announced a set of sweeping pre-emptive pardons to members of his family, including his two brothers and his sister, after some on the right suggested the they should face prosecution.

The announcement — a move Biden once said would not be indicative of his administration — came ahead of the inauguration ceremony for Donald Trump, who was sworn in as the 47th president on Monday.

"My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics," Biden said in a statement. "Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end."

In an interview with CNN in 2020, Biden criticized the notion of an outgoing president pre-emptively pardoning family members. At the time, it was suggested that it was such a move Trump might take.

“It concerns me, in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of laws and justice,” Biden said then. “Now, in terms of the pardons, you’re not going to see, in our administration, that kind of approach.”

The pardons quickly drew claims of hypocrisy from Republicans. Alex Pfeiffer, a Trump team spokesman, noted on X that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warned Trump against pardoning his children in 2020 before leaving office and likened pre-emptive pardons to an abuse of power.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, lambasted the outgoing president for the move. Comer had led an investigation into the Biden family and international business endeavors.

“President Biden’s preemptive pardons for the Biden Crime Family serve as a confession of their corruption as they sold out the American people to enrich themselves," Comer said in a statement. "Our investigation revealed that at least ten members of the Biden Crime Family and their associates raked in over $30 million by selling Joe Biden’s influence to corrupt foreign entities and individuals in China, Russia, Ukraine, Romania, and Kazakhstan."