Biden makes last-minute pardons, including family members, Fauci, Milley and Jan. 6 committee
FILE – President Joe Biden speaks in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Biden announced Monday before leaving office that he would be preemptively pardoning several people who could be targeted with President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
CBS News reports that includes members of his family, Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark A. Milley and members of the House Jan. 6 committee and their staff.
Just 20 minutes before handing over power to Trump, Mr. Biden also announced he was preemptively pardoning his brothers, sister-in-law, sister and brother-in-law.
“My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. “Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end. … Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances.”
He issued preemptive pardons for Fauci, Milley and others earlier in the morning.
“These public servants have served our nation with honor and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions,” Mr. Biden said in a statement.
The president noted that the 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.” He added that the nation instead “owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”
Mr. Biden praised the service of Fauci, who worked for decades as the nation’s top infectious disease expert; Milley, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and the members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and their staff, who the president said worked with “integrity and a commitment to discovering the truth.” The individuals have all been the subject of GOP ire and threats of retribution for perceived wrongdoings.
The president said he believes in the rule of law and is “optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics.” But he added that “these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing.”
Fauci issued a statement on Monday after the pardon news saying that he is grateful for the action.
Milley said in a statement after Mr. Biden’s announcement Monday that he and his family “are deeply grateful for the President’s action today.”
Speculation about the possibility of preemptive pardons for members of the Jan. 6 committee has circulated in recent days. Trump has accused members of the committee of destroying evidence and committing “a major crime” during their investigation. He told NBC’s “Meet the Press” last month that “everybody” who served on the committee “should go to jail.”
Mr. Biden was criticized in December when he issued a sweeping, preemptive pardon of his son Hunter for any crimes Hunter Biden may have committed from Jan. 1, 2014, through Dec. 1, 2024. Hunter Biden was convicted in June of three separate felony charges related to his purchase of a revolver in 2018 when he was battling an addiction to illegal drugs, which he lied about on paperwork to obtain the gun. He also pleaded guilty to nine tax evasion charges in a separate case in September.
The move comes as the president has in recent weeks made more individual pardons and commutations than any other President in history, commuting the sentences of around 1,500 people and pardoning nearly 40 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes in December, along with commuting the sentences of almost 2,500 people on Friday.
— From CBS News
