Biden preemptively pardons Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley and Jan. 6 committee members - ABC News
By: ABC News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The move comes just hours before Biden cedes power to Donald Trump.
President Joe Biden on Monday issued preemptive pardons to potential targets of the incoming Trump administration, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and lawmakers who served on the House Jan. 6 Committee.
"Our nation relies on dedicated, selfless public servants every day. They are the lifeblood of our democracy," Biden said in a statement just hours before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.
"Yet alarmingly, public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties," Biden added.
Trump in his 2024 campaign repeatedly vowed "retribution" on his political enemies, specifically singling out lawmakers like Liz Cheney who investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump said Cheney and other committee members should be put in jail.
Milley, who retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2023, has long been a target of Republican attacks over the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been a lightning rod for criticism over the federal government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In this Nov. 29, 2021 file photo Anthony Fauci (R), Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Advisor to the President, speaks alongside U.S. President Joe Biden as he delivers remarks on the Omicron COVID-19 variant following a meeting of the COVID-19 response team at the White House on in Washington, DC.Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, FILE
Milley put out a statement shortly after Biden's announcement.
"My family and I are deeply grateful for the President's action today," he said. "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. I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety," he continued.
"It has been an honor and a privilege to serve our great country in uniform for over four decades, and I will continue to keep faith and loyalty to our nation and Constitution until my dying breath. I thank my wife, Hollyanne, my children, my dear friends, and my trusted colleagues who have supported me throughout my life," he said.
"God bless the United States of America, and the troops who sacrifice so much in order to protect us against all enemies," he added.
ABC News reported in early December that Biden was considering such an action, days after he issued a full pardon for his son, Hunter Biden. In an exit interview with USA Today earlier this month, Biden signaled he was still wrestling with the decision.
Some Democrats argued against preemptive pardons, including Sen. Adam Schiff, who served on the House Jan. 6 committee.
"The precedent of giving blanket pardons, preemptive blanket pardons on the way out of an administration, I think is a precedent we don't want to set," Schiff said on ABC's "This Week" in December.
Representative Liz Cheney, center, speaks as Representative Bennie Thompson and chairman of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, left, and Representative Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois, listen during a hearing in Washington, DC, Oct. 13, 2022. Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
But Biden, in his statement on Monday, expressed concern about attempts to rewrite the violence that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
"I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics," Biden said. "But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing. Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families."
"That is why I am exercising my authority under the Constitution to pardon General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee," he said. "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."
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None of the people Biden pardoned today did anything wrong. But because we elected a lunatic to take office, extraordinary measures to protect these people had to be taken.
It is an admission of guilt to accept a pardon.
Pardons are granted, not accepted.
There would be no need for pardons if they were innocent of wrongdoing.
For the last four years, I've been told repeatedly on this site that the innocent having nothing to fear from federal criminal investigations.
By that logic, there would be no need for any of the steps Trump has taken to avoid trials and sentencing if he is innocent.
Biden, destroyer of norms, cements his spot as one of the worst presidents in history with these preemptive pardon of criminals and traitors.
[deleted][✘]
That happens later today when Trump pardons the J6 "hostages".
With all the pre-emptive pardons issued by Biden, I don't think anybody can complain about any J6 pardons.
The J6 people were investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law before any pardons were issued. Preemptive pardons are a whole different ballgame.
Why not? The J6 crew really are criminals. They have the convictions that back that up
If that is your complaint about the Trump pardoning of the J6 crew, what is your complaint for all the pardons Biden issued for sentenced criminals in the past week or so? As far as the pre-emptive pardons issued by Biden, there is evidence as presented by the House as to potential criminality but the DOJ never investigated or charged any of them.
Biden Family Investigation - United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability
Comer: Oversight Committee Has Uncovered Mounting Evidence Tying Joe Biden to Family Business Schemes - United States House Committee on Oversight and Accountability
Mainstream media lambasted Trump at the end of his first term for talking about pre-emptive pardons. Biden promised that his administration would never do such an act. Yet he did. Are you upset with him for that? IMO he opened a box that will come back to haunt the American people when future presidents in their last acts issue blanket pardons for their family and friends.
What about Trump will come back to haunt the American people? The constant grifting, pathological lying, and pointless cruelty come to mind. What do you think?
He is currently involved in a cryptocurrency scam, which is being ignored by the media. That seems like a precedent that bodes ill for the future.
I don't like his cryptocurrency deal at all. I agree with something you said elsewhere that this seems to really open the door to anybody (foreign or domestic) to bribe the President without any real tracing ability. To be fair however, this is Trump only finding a new way for that as presidents have long been working to hide the bribes they receive. Don't tell me you believe all those offshore shell companies that the Biden family set up were all for innocent means.
I think back to something Tom Clancy said in one of his books. 'A little corruption of public officials is to be expected, but where does one need to draw the line?" (that's a paraphrase, not an exact quote.)
Hopefully, he does no more damage in his last couple hours. Biden has made an excellent case that the new President's term should begin immediately after the election, with all votes having to be counted within 48 hours of election day. This months long post election assault on the Constitution and the rule of law has compounded the damage to our institutions that Biden did during his term.
I believe that would require a Constitutional Amendment as the 20th Amendment specifies the beginning and ending dates for a Presidential & Vice Presidential term. As witnessed by the ERA Amendment, it's rather difficult to get an amendment thru.
Yes, for sure.
As witnessed by the ERA Amendment, it's rather difficult to get an amendment thru.
So a President can't just add an amendment to the Constitution by tweet? There's a lot of progressives, including Biden and Harris, who think otherwise.
I think there are several questions around these pardons. Will any of them will refuse the pardon? After all, acceptance of the pardon implies acceptance of guilt. Or will they accept the pardon and retire into the sunset? Does Liz Chaney have any future political ambitions and how might this impact her decisions as well as any future plans?
Another question centers around the 5th Amendment. Does acceptance of a pardon then prohibit a person from refusing to testify. I can find writings that seem to accept both sides, about the only thing I can really find is that this is untested as of yet. So while the issue of the pardons doesn't necessarily prevent any investigations into the matters that the pardon covers, it is unknown if the pardoned person could be forced to testify in front of Congress on the matter. I suspect should any future investigations be started, it would require an emergency petition to SCOTUS.
Investigations of what?
Why did Biden issue any of the pre-emptive pardons except to curtail any future investigations? Your question is completely without merit based on the past month.
December, 2020. Jake Tapper asks President-elect Biden about the rumor that Trump may issue some preemptive pardons before leaving office.
Biden: You're not going to see me do that.
That was before Trump attempted to overthrow the US government, thus making himself the subject of the J6 committee.
That has nothing to do with anything, other than we now know the J6 committee members admittedly committed crimes to try and get Trump. In 2020, Biden claimed to understand the damage mass preemptive pardons would do, and promised not to do it. That's he now using them to protect his cronies only underscores what a lying hypocrite he was.
It's almost like this Biden character is a compulsive liar.
lol. Some people are losing it.
Yeah, those people who spent the last four years claiming innocent people have nothing to fear if they are prosecuted by the federal government who've done a complete 180 and are now trying to defend preemptive pardons.
Don't you believe in the rule of law? Acceptance of a pardon is admission of guilt.
And some lost it long ago...........about 9 years worth
A sane person might ask what the J6 committee did that was illegal , but sanity doesnt enter into this.
One could also easily say that the pre-emptive pardons issued by Biden could backfire. What will prevent any future president from issuing pre-emptive pardons on all of his/her allies on leaving office? I can answer that for you, absolutely nothing.
This IMO is an abuse of the Presidential Pardon and will be an issue moving forward for the country.
Trump threatened to put these people, who did nothing wrong, in prison. I suggest you take your misgivings up with him.
Trump threatens a lot of shit. This pardon points the finger directly a those who shouldn't have anything to fear, right? Evidently, WRONG.
Then I guess he shouldn't , right?
Say who, you?
Way to completely ignore the point of my post in order to turn it back to Trump. Well done!!!
The point I made is that this will, I believe, be used in such a fashion by future presidents much to the detriment of the country. There's no limit to the amount of graft that can occur as all the outgoing president needs to do is issue a blanket pre-emptive pardon.
Much like how much the left bitched about the SCOTUS ruling on Presidential Immunity, I find it hard to understand how this type of action can be ignored except due to partisan blindness.
Trump threatened to put these people, who did nothing wrong, in prison.
You don't know what they did or did not do. Thanks to Joe you never will. Trump can't put anyone in prison.
Everyone is still behaving as though Trump will respect the law. He won't.
"Lock her up!" never included a trial. It meant "Oppose me, go to jail". That's what Trump has told us he will do.
Well then we should release her immediately.
It didn't preclude one either.
And he didn't follow through with Hillary, so with all due respect, what exactly makes you think he will be able to do that with the others whom Biden has preemptively pardoned, especially since you feel that they have done nothing wrong or worth investigation? How exactly do you think he would have succeeded with opening an investigation, or throwing anyone in jail if there is no evidence of any wrongdoing whatsoever?
And lest we forget, these multiple and sweeping preemptive pardons were virtually unprecedented, but now a strong precedent has been set. Even Adam Schiff was concerned about that and called the pardons " unnecessary and unwise ". According to Biden, and many others, we just elected the "biggest threat to our democracy" to be the POTUS, imagine what a guy like that can do now with such a precedent. I can only imagine that Biden must be a shitty chess player.
Just keep watching the news...
Trump has been saying, for literally years, that he would pardon the J6 insurrectionists if he won the 2024 election. Now you want to blame Biden for all this?
Trump has released from prison people found guilty of assaulting cops in an effort to keep Trump in office, illegally, in 2020. He released from prison the leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, essentially domestic terrorist groups.
On top of all that many times on his inauguration day he seemed mentally unbalanced. He seemed to suggest that Gaza is worth something to real estate develops as beachfront property. Maybe he was joking, but maybe not. But who jokes about a place where tens of thousands of people have recently been killed?
I guess lying just about every time you open your mouth will do that.
Has he released any that murdered them? But somehow that's never a problem when democrats free LEO killers.
… Your honor, my clients were only swinging at these officers with baseball bats and two by fours with nails sticking out of them out of respect for law enforcement in general.
I don’t WANT to blame Biden for anything other than the actions he actually takes. They are HIS actions are they not? I’ll blame Trump for HIS actions as well.
Let me ask you this, what do you suppose Biden had to say about Trump possibly pardoning his family in 2020 for the very same reasons Biden has claimed about the fear of reprisal from the other side? Biden and his supporters were very much against that then, but have no issue with it now. In the end Trump did not do it, but Biden did.
I hold Trump fully responsible for all the shitty and suspect actions he has taken, or things he has said. Tell me why I shouldn’t hold Biden responsible for his?
Not sure why I even bother asking you reasonable questions because you never directly answer any of them, you just shift or change the subject and put words in my mouth that I did not say. Do you think we can have an honest discussion for once?
The magic eight ball says, “very doubtful”
A complete asshole. We all know he can be that. I also very much disagree with him pardoning many of the J6 perpetrators of violence. Completely irresponsible!
Will do…
Biden is leaving office dropping one lawless, norm-defying, justly impeachable un-democratic transgression after another. That’d be bad enough. But these are all precedents for the successor he thinks is a threat to democracy. It’s reckless, spiteful, and incandescently stupid.
even the anti trump dispatch can’t stomach this
You should have told your boy to keep his mouth shut, then this wouldnt have been necessary.
Trump has filed thousands of legal actions against his "enemies". He would totally enjoy making Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees. Fuck him.
But these are all precedents for the successor he thinks is a threat to democracy. It’s reckless, spiteful, and incandescently stupid
How do progressives struggle so mightily to understand this principle?
Trump is reckless with his words, and the Republican committees are reckless with their actions. A "threat environment" for Fauci, Milley, Cheney etc existed, not because of their illegal actvities but because of Trump and Congresses recklessness.
They can turn down the pardons if they want. I think Kinzinger has previously said he didnt want one. What would possibly be the rationale for trying to put Adam Kinzinger in prison? There is none, and yet Trump said it.
Crazy how you flipped exactly on January 20 from believing the innocent have nothing to fear from criminal prosecution to believing the "threat" of prosecution somehow justifies pardons for innocent people.
Similar to Senator Whitehouse and other supporters of the Bragg prosecution, suddenly going on about how wrong it is for a prosecutor to target a person and then find a crime to charge him or her with. Just another example of progressives having no other principle than persecuting their enemies and protecting their friends. They, like Biden, will yet again flip 180 degrees on every principle they claimed to hold when in power.
Trump supporters begin to file into Capitol for his second inauguration.
Yes, there are many of the party of the klan there, Bill Clinton, the head of the racist party is in the front row.
When was Bill Clinton a member of the KKK? Please, present your proof...
hmmm
There is no way that a governor of Arkansas could possibly be associated with the KKK. Just because people called him Bubba Clinton doesn't mean anything. Is irony made in China nowadays?
(In the language of the detached elite, this is acerbic trenchancy. But to Bubba it's just plain sarcasm.)
The ignorance of the left when it comes to Clinton is legendary.
Biden just pardoned his entire family, including wives and [children][✘]
The Liar In Chief is off to a predictable start.
He just said we will take back the Panama Canal, partially because 38,000 people died in the building of it.
Over 25,000 people died during the construction of the Panama Canal 1 2 3 4 5 . Approximately 20,000 deaths occurred during the French attempt, and over 5,000 deaths occurred during the successful American construction 1 2 4 5 .
Because that’s the important part of his speech.
He has been president for 10 minutes and hes already lying.
Hunter Biden’s laptop is Russian propaganda.
He never stops lying.
Trumps comments, occurring right now, at an overflow room, are going sideways (he is off the teleprompter. ) America is immensely embarrassed by this utter buffoon.
He's been talking for about 10 minutes about Lynn Cheney , Pelosi, and the J6 committee, and Milley.
This actually good news. None of these people can now claim fifth amendment protections or refuse to testify. And these pardons won't provide any protection against future perjury.
Joe Biden is a gift that keeps giving for Republicans.
Do we know this for sure? I was thinking a similar case might evolve now that Hunter can no longer plead the Fifth in any further investigation into his dealings with Ukraine when his dad was VP. But I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not sure how that might work, or how Biden (and/or his advisors) didn't see that coming if it is indeed a potential issue.
A pardon is coupled with immunity from prosecution (within the scope of the pardon). So, a pardoned witness cannot claim fear of self incrimination and prosecution because they already have immunity from prosecution. A pardoned witness cannot be prosecuted for anything that may be revealed by testimony so there cannot be fear of self incrimination.
But exoneration of past crimes doesn't avoid prosecution for future crimes, such as perjury. A pardoned witness (with immunity from prosecution) cannot get away with lying under oath. And the pardoned witness can be compelled to testify without fear of self incrimination and prosecution. So the only tactic left is to claim executive privilege.
Well they can if you can't prove they are lying beyond a reasonable doubt.
Only if one was indeed covered as an "executive" within the executive branch. None of those Biden preemptively pardoned were "executives", although their testimony could prove to be damaging to Biden himself. So given that possibility, does Biden's executive privilege (either as VP in 2014, or President more recently) make pursuing such lines of questioning, investigation, or fact finding, off limits?
you should try and control imagination.
What do you care? Democrats have already thrown Joe Biden under the bus and there won't be another Biden running for office anytime soon.
The leadership of the Democratic Party coronated Kamala Harris. Remember? And Harris' record is clean because she didn't do anything.
Thank God that POS is gone...
God has little to nothing to do with Trump being president. This presidency is done (allowed by God if you will) by the will of 'Man.'
The church is morally wrong to proclaim and associate God with any unrepentant felon. Speaking of felon. . . our nation has just inaugurated and proceeds to celebrate a felonious man as its leader. . . again, God (who detests liars and loveless people) has nothing to do with this man. Again, the church has brought shame upon itself for participating in dishonoring Jesus. Calling a good man (Biden) a nasty set of words while praising a man who seeks only self-interests for those who bend to his self-will is morally wrong.
Incidentally, at Trump's swearing in ceremony, with his wife with the 'show-stopping' hat present carrying two bibles on his left, . . . Trump would not GIVE GOD THE GLORY. . . which he 'kept' for himself. The oath itself was to the state (not to the God inside the pages of the Bible. Symbolizing that his oath as president when needed he will take to a court of man's making
not any spirt deity.