Anthony Fauci. Photo: AFP / Getty Images
US President Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons on Monday (US time) for people his successor Donald Trump has targeted for retaliation, including Republican former lawmaker Liz Cheney, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and Anthony Fauci, who served as White House chief medical advisor.
The pardon covers all lawmakers, including Cheney, who served on the congressional select committee that investigated the 5 January, 2021, storming of the US Capitol by Trump supporters, as well as police officers who testified before it. Trump, who will return to the presidency later on Monday, has repeatedly called for the prosecution of his perceived enemies since winning the White House in November.
Biden praised public servants as the "lifeblood of our democracy." Without mentioning Trump, he expressed alarm that some of them were subjected to threats and intimidation for doing their job.
"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," Biden said in a statement.
The US Constitution gives a president broad pardon powers for federal offenses. While pardons are typically given to people who have been prosecuted, they can cover conduct that has not resulted in legal proceedings.
"It is disgraceful. Many are guilty of MAJOR CRIMES! DJT" NBC reporter Kristen Welker quoted Trump as telling her in a text message.
Trump in December backed a call for the FBI to investigate Cheney over her role in leading Congress' probe of the 6 January, 2021, assault on the US Capitol.
Liz Cheney. Photo: AFP
Cheney and Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, the committee's vice chairs, expressed gratitude to Biden for recognising the threats and harassment they and their families have endured.
"We have been pardoned today not for breaking the law but for upholding it," they said in a statement.
Fauci often clashed with Trump during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Trump's supporters have continued to attack the former senior health official.
Fauci told Reuters the White House had reached out about the issue a month ago and he had not sought the pardon. "I appreciate the president reaching out and trying to protect me from baseless accusations," Fauci said. "I've done nothing wrong and this is no admission of any guilt."
Milley, who was Trump's top military advisor between 2019 and early 2021, said in a statement he was "deeply grateful" for Biden's pardon.
'Exceptional circumstances'
Trump's rivalry with Milley ran deep. In the aftermath of the 6 January attack on the Capitol, Milley called Beijing to reassure China of US stability. Trump, in a social media post, described the phone call as "an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH".
Some of Trump's supporters, seeing Milley as disloyal, demanded he be called back to active duty and tried for treason. Milley took a veiled jab at Trump during his 2023 retirement speech, saying US troops take an oath to the US Constitution and not a "wannabe dictator".
Trump later in the day lashed out at him with a series of insults, calling Milley "slow moving and thinking" and a "moron". Milley was quoted in the book War by Bob Woodward, which was published last month, calling Trump "fascist to the core", and Trump's allies have targeted him for perceived disloyalty to Trump. Reuters reported in November that the Trump transition team was drawing up a list of military officers seen as connected to Milley to be fired.
Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon, repeatedly lashed out at Milley in his latest book, using profanities.
Mark Milley with Donald Trump in 2020. Photo: AFP
Biden praised both Milley and Fauci as longtime dedicated public servants who have defended democracy and saved lives. He said the select committee established to investigate the 6 January attack had fulfilled its mission with integrity.
Without identifying the individuals, he pardoned all members of Congress who served on the panel, their staff and the US Capitol and Washington, DC police officers who testified before the committee.
Biden said that those pardoned had done nothing wrong, but that simply being investigated or prosecuted could harm reputations and finances.
"I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics," he said. "But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing."
The pardons drew immediate criticism from Trump allies including US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said on X the officials were pardoned "because they are GUILTY OF CRIMES". Biden pardoned his son Hunter in December, after repeatedly saying he would not. Hunter is a recovering drug addict who became a target of Republicans and pleaded guilty to tax violations and was convicted on firearms-related charges.
Hunter Biden. Photo: MANDEL NGAN / AFP
Biden on Monday also pardoned five other members of his family, saying he wanted to prevent them from being targeted by "baseless and politically motivated investigations".
Those pardoned are his two brothers James and Francis. Also on the list are Sara, the wife of James Biden, Biden's sister Valerie and her husband John.
In a statement, Biden also commuted the life sentence imposed on Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who has served nearly five decades in federal prison for the 1975 killings of two FBI agents. Peltier will serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement
- Reuters
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