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Hours before the Inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump Monday, President Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons for Dr. Anthony Fauci, members of Congress who investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol Riot and others who he said are under threat of being "baselessly" targeted for political purposes.
The decision by Biden comes after President-elect Donald Trump warned of an enemies list filled with those who have crossed him politically or sought to hold him accountable for his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and his role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
"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 press release. "I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing."
The statement stressed 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."
In a statement to NBC News, President-elect Trump called the pardons "disgraceful," saying many of those pardons are "guilty of major crimes."
Minutes before his term was set to end, Biden announced that he was also pardoning several members of his family, including his brother James Biden, sister-in-law Sara Biden, sister Valerie Biden Owens, brother-in-law John T. Owens and brother Francis Biden.
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According to the pardon document, Biden is pardoning his siblings and siblings-in-law for "any nonviolent offenses against the United States which they may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through the date of this pardon."
So who exactly did Biden pardon, and what do they mean? Here's a breakdown
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What do the pardons mean?
A post from Katie Couric Media says that "unlike traditional forms of clemency, preemptive pardons are given to those who haven’t even been investigated, let alone charged."
The pardons, announced with just hours left in Biden’s presidency, have been the subject of heated debate for months at the highest levels of the White House. It’s customary for a president to grant clemency at the end of his term, but those acts of mercy are usually offered to Americans who have been convicted of crimes.
It’s unclear whether those pardoned by Biden would need to apply for the clemency or accept the president’s offer. The pardons, the president said, shouldn’t be misinterpreted as an acknowledgment that these people engaged in wrongdoing.
“These are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing,” Biden said, adding that “Even when individuals have done nothing wrong — and in fact have done the right thing — and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci
Fauci was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health for nearly 40 years, including during Trump’s term in office, and later served as Biden’s chief medical adviser until his retirement in 2022. He helped coordinate the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and raised Trump’s ire when he resisted Trump’s untested public health notions. Fauci has since become a target of intense hatred and vitriol from people on the right, who blame him for mask mandates and other policies they believe infringed on their rights, even as hundreds of thousands of people were dying.
Trump and Fauci fell out even before the November 2020 election, as the then-president pushed back against the public health restrictions that Fauci and other experts advocated for.
In a statement, Fauci said he was motivated by "one simple goal: to improve the health and lives of humankind."
Fauci's full statement can be found below.
For more than 50 years, I have been a public servant at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) serving the American people and the global community in fighting against life-threatening diseases. Throughout my career, I have been motivated by one simple goal: to improve the health and lives of humankind.
During the course of my career, I served as: 1) a basic scientist running a major immunology and infectious diseases laboratory at NIH; 2) a physician taking personal care of desperately ill patients and doing studies as a clinical investigator; 3) Director of one of the largest NIH institutes, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), for 38 years from 1984 through 2022; 4) a global public health leader and one of the principal architects of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR); and 5) advisor to seven United States Presidents of both parties from Ronald Reagan to Joseph Biden. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have served in each of these roles and fulfilled each of them to the very best of my ability. I believe and hope that my legacy is that of a dedicated and accomplished physician/scientist and public health official who, with the help of many teams of skilled and distinguished colleagues, saved millions of lives in the United States and around the world.
Despite the accomplishments that my colleagues and I achieved over my long career of public service, I have been the subject of politically motivated threats of investigation and prosecution. There is absolutely no basis for these threats. Let me be perfectly clear: I have committed no crime and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me. The fact is, however, that the mere articulation of these baseless threats, and the potential that they will be acted upon, create immeasurable and intolerable distress for me and my family.
For these reasons, I acknowledge and appreciate the action that President Biden has taken today on my behalf.
Gen. Mark A. Milley
Gen. Milley served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff starting in 2019, also under Trump.
In 2023, Trump accused Milley of treason after it was reported that he had called Chinese officials in the final days of the Trump administration to reassure them about U.S. political and military stability. Milley has defended that call.
In his statement, Biden said "General Milley served our nation for more than 40 years, serving in multiple command and leadership posts and deploying to some of the most dangerous parts of the world to protect and defend democracy."
"As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he guided our Armed Forces through complex global security threats and strengthened our existing alliances while forging new ones," Biden's statement continued.
In a statement, Milley said he and his family are "deeply grateful for the President’s action today."
"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," he said. "I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety."
Milley's full statement can be found below:
My family and I are deeply grateful for the President’s action today. 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. 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. God bless the United States of America, and the troops who sacrifice so much in order to protect us against all enemies.
Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol
"American democracy was tested when a mob of insurrectionists attacked the Capitol in an attempt to overturn a fair and free election by force and violence," Biden's statement said. "In light of the significance of that day, Congress established the bipartisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol to investigate and report upon the facts, circumstances, and causes of the insurrection.
The panel’s members included Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who was then a House member; former Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Elaine Luria, D-Va., and Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla.; and current Reps. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.
"The Select Committee fulfilled this mission with integrity and a commitment to discovering the truth," Biden's statement continued." Rather than accept accountability, those who perpetrated the January 6th attack have taken every opportunity to undermine and intimidate those who participated in the Select Committee in an attempt to rewrite history, erase the stain of January 6th for partisan gain, and seek revenge, including by threatening criminal prosecutions."
D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before committee
The committee’s final report found that Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol.
The police officers who testified before the committee included Harry Dunn, Aquilino Gonell, Michael Fanone and Daniel Hodges.
In a statement, Dunn said “I am eternally grateful to President Joe Biden, not just for this preemptive pardon, but for his leadership and service to this nation, especially over the last four years. I wish this pardon weren't necessary, but unfortunately, the political climate we are in now has made the need for one somewhat of a reality. I, like all of the other public servants, was just doing my job and upholding my oath, and I will always honor that.”