WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, making an extraordinary employ of presidential power in the final hours of his life to guard against potential “revenge” according to the upcoming Trump administration.
Biden’s decision was made after Donald Trump’s warnings enemy list filled with those who opposed him politically or tried to hold him accountable for the attempt make up for losses in the 2020 elections and his role in the January 6, 2021 storming of the US Capitol. Trump chose Cabinet nominees who supported his election lies and who have pledged to punish those involved in the investigation into his case.
“The granting of these pardons should not be confused with an admission that any person has committed any wrongdoing, nor should their acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt of any crime,” Biden said in a statement. “Our nation owes our officials a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”
The pardons, announced hours before Biden’s presidency, have been the subject of heated debate for months at the highest levels of the White House. It is customary for a president to grant a pardon at the end of his term, but such acts of mercy are usually offered to Americans convicted of crimes.
Trump told NBC the pardons were shameful.
Biden, a Democrat, has used power in the broadest and most untested way: to pardon those who haven’t even been investigated. His decision lays the groundwork for even broader employ of pardons by Trump, a Republican, and future presidents.
However, the Supreme Court last year ruled that the presidents liked it broad immunity from prosecution due to what may be considered official acts, the president’s advisers and allies do not employ such a shield. There is concern that future presidents could employ the promise of a full pardon to encourage allies to take actions they might otherwise resist for fear of violating the law.
It is unclear whether those pardoned by Biden will have to apply for clemency, and the approval could be seen as a tacit admission of guilt or wrongdoing, validating years of attacks by Trump and his supporters, even though those pardoned have not been formally accused of any crimes . The “full and unconditional” pardon for Fauci and Milley covers a period stretching back to January 1, 2014.
“These are exceptional circumstances and I cannot in good conscience do nothing,” Biden said, adding that “even if a person did nothing wrong — and in fact did the right thing — and is ultimately acquitted, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage your reputation and finances.”
Fauci was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health for nearly 40 years, including during Trump’s term, and later served as Biden’s chief medical adviser until his retirement in 2022. He helped coordinate the nation’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. 19 and drew Trump’s ire for opposing his unproven views on public health. Fauci has since become the target of intense hatred and vitriol from right-wingers who blame him for mask mandates and other policies they say violate their rights even as hundreds of thousands of people have died.
“Despite the achievements that I and my colleagues have achieved over my long career in public service, I have fallen victim to politically motivated threats of investigation and prosecution,” Fauci said in a statement. “There is absolutely no basis for such threats. “I want to make it clear: I have not committed any crime.”
Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Trump a fascist and detailed his handling of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection. He said he was grateful to Biden for the pardon.
“I do not want to spend the remaining time the Lord gives me fighting against those who would unfairly seek revenge for alleged insults,” he said in a statement. “I don’t want to subject my family, friends and those I served with to the resulting distractions, expenses and anxiety.”
Biden also apologized to members and staff of the Jan. 6 commission that investigated the attack, as well as to police officers on Capitol Hill and in Washington, D.C., who testified before the House committee about their experiences that day when he was attacked by an livid, violent mob of Trump supporters. It is a “full and unconditional pardon” of any offenses “which they may have committed or in which they have participated, arising out of or in any way connected with the actions or their subject matter.”
The commission spent 18 months investigating Trump and the insurrection. It was led by Republican Bennie Thompson, Miss D, and Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican who later pledged to vote for Democrat Kamala Harris and campaigned with her against Trump. The commission’s final report found that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol.
“Instead of accepting responsibility,” Biden said, “those who perpetrated the January 6 attack took every opportunity to undermine and intimidate those who served on the select committee in an attempt to rewrite history, erase the stain of January 6 for partisan gain, and seek revenge, including by threatening criminal prosecution.”
Biden’s statement did not mention dozens of members and staff by name. Some didn’t know they would receive a pardon until it happened, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Cheney and Thompson said in a statement on behalf of the commission that they were grateful for the decision, saying they were pardoned “not for breaking the law, but for following it.”
“These are indeed ‘extraordinary circumstances’ in which government officials are pardoned to prevent false prosecutions by the government for faithfully working as members of Congress to reveal facts that are the result of a months-long criminal effort to override the will of voters after the 2020 election.” including by inciting violent insurrection,” the statement said.
The scope of legal protections provided by pardons may not fully protect lawmakers or their staff from other types of investigations, especially by Congress. Republicans on Capitol Hill would likely still have broad opportunities to investigate the commission’s actions, as the House GOP did in the last session of Congress, seeking testimony and other materials from those involved.
Biden, an institutionalist, promised a glossy transition to the next administration, inviting Trump to the White House and say that the nation will be fine, even if he warned against a growing oligarchy in his farewell speech. He has he has been warning about Trump’s ascension for years assuming the presidency again would be a threat to democracy. Influenced by these concerns, he decided to break with political norms.
Biden set a presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued. He also pardoned his son Hunter.
He is not the first to consider such a precautionary pardon. Trump’s advisers believed they were Trump and his supporters involved in his failed attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which culminated in the violent riot at the Capitol. But Trump’s pardon never came until he left office four years ago.
In 1974, President Gerald Ford granted a “full, free and absolute pardon” to his predecessor Richard Nixon over the Watergate scandal.
Trump, who takes office at noon, has promised to grant quick pardons to many of those involved in the brutal and bloody attack on Jan. 6, 2021, that injured approximately 140 law enforcement officers. “Everyone in this very large arena will be very happy with my decision,” he said during Sunday’s rally.
Ex Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanonewho lost consciousness as a result of the riots and suffered a heart attack
“I haven’t digested it,” he said. “I just can’t believe this is my country.”
