WASHINGTON — Just hours before the end of his four-year term, President Joe Biden early Monday pardoned several officials and lawmakers who were targets of retaliatory threats from fresh President Donald Trump, as well as several members of his family.
Biden pardoned retired Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, members and staff of the special committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, as well as Capitol and DC Metropolitan Police officers who testified before the committee.
“I believe in the rule of law and am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately triumph over politics. But these are exceptional circumstances and I cannot in good conscience do nothing. Unfounded and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety and financial security of those targeted and their families,” Biden said in a statement Monday morning.
“Even if individuals did nothing wrong — and in fact did the right thing — and are ultimately exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can cause irreparable damage to their reputations and finances,” Biden said.
Just last month during an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker,” Trump said said that Rep. Bennie Thompson and former Rep. Liz Cheney “lied” and “should go to prison.” The Mississippi Democrat and the Wyoming Republican led the panel that investigated the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
That day, a violent mob of Trump supporters marched on the Capitol — at Trump’s urging — attacking over 140 police officers and causing over $2.8 million in damage to the Capitol, according to the Justice Department.
Trump has vowed to pardon those convicted or pleaded guilty in connection with the attack, calling them “hostages,” “patriots” and “warriors.” According to the most recent Justice Department figures, approximately 1,580 people have been charged Figures.
Former U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who was among the police officers who testified before the committee on Jan. 6, wrote on X-Sunday: “The law-and-order guy is about to pardon those who attacked the police.” In total, more than 40 rioters attacked me that day.”
Milley served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump’s first term and continued in the Oval Office during Biden’s time. The retired general is on record descriptive Trump as a “fascist” and “would-be dictator”.
Milley was the target of Trump’s ire after he rejected Orders from Trump – including an order to send in the military to crush protesters in DC during a wave of nationwide demonstrations following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Trump has called for political retaliation against Milley. According to journalist Bob Woodward, the retired general has received “a steady stream of death threats” since his retirement.
Fauci, who led the U.S. as its top medical expert during the COVID-19 pandemic, has also been in his sights for years Threats And Investigations by Republicans in Congress.
Trump launched partisan attacks on Fauci and began lambasting the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as early as 2020, calling him “a total disaster.”
Pardons for the Biden family
Minutes before Trump took the oath of office, the White House announced Biden’s preemptive pardons of his siblings and their spouses.
These include James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens and Francis W. Biden.
“My family has been subjected to relentless attacks and threats motivated solely by a desire to hurt me – the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will stop,” Biden said in a statement.
Biden said the pardons “should not be misconstrued as an admission of wrongdoing, nor should their acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for a crime.”
Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky and chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said in a statement that (*6*) .” ”
Comer’s committee limped forward for years with an investigation into Biden that the GOP-led panel said would lead to Biden’s impeachment, but that didn’t happen.
Comer said his committee’s investigation “will be remembered as one of the most successful that Congress has ever conducted.”
Last updated on January 20, 2025, 12:33 p.m
