President Joe Biden has taken a stand in his final hours as president ahead of President-Elect Donald Trump’s Inauguration on Monday, Jan. 20.
Early Monday morning, Biden issued a series of preemptive pardons for several high-profile figures whom Trump has publicly spoken out against. These pardons cannot be undone by the incoming administration.
Some of those preemptive pardons include Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former chief medical advisor to the president, who served amidst the COVID pandemic as well as General Mark A. Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was appointed by Trump in 2019 during his first administration.
Trump and Milley became at odds after Milley disagreed with Trump’s desire to overturn the results of the 2020 election, referring to the situation as “a Reichstag moment,” according to the 2021 book I Alone Can Fix It by journalists Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig.
Others who made it onto Biden’s list of presidential pardons included members who served on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including former Representative Liz Cheney, Senator Adam Schiff, former Representative Adam Kinzinger as well as Capitol and Washington D.C. police who testified.
The decision is viewed as a guard against any acts of potential revenge from the incoming Trump administration.
“Our nation relies on dedicated selfless public servants every day,” Biden shared in a statement explaining his preemptive pardons. “They are the lifeblood of our democracy yet alarmingly public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties.”
“These pardons should not be mistaken that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing. Nor should acceptance by them be misconstrued as any admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden clarified. “Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”
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The pardons come after Trump has spoken out against many of the individuals. In 2023, he accused Milley of going behind his back in the final days of the first Trump administration and calling Chinese counterparts.
“[Milley] was actually dealing with China to give them a heads up on the thinking of the President of the United States,” Trump wrote in the post on his Truth Social site at the time. “This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been death!”
General Milley released a statement regarding the pardon, saying he was “deeply grateful” to President Biden, and adding that he, “does not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me in this life, fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights.”
In December 2024, Trump told NBC News’ Laura Jarrett that the members of the Jan. 6 committee deserved jail time.
“For what they did, honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump said during the interview.
When asked if Cheney should go to jail, he replied, “I think everybody on the committee, anybody that voted in favor [should go to jail].”
Despite this, Trump also said he had no plans to direct his FBI director or Attorney General to send them to jail.
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