Biden preemptively pardons Fauci, Milley, Jan. 6 committee

In his final hours in office, US President Joe Biden has pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired General Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

In a statement, Biden said the officials "do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions."

"These are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing," Biden said. "Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families."

The outgoing president added 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."

Biden's decision comes after incoming President 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 Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Milley 'deeply grateful' to Biden

Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Trump a fascist and detailed his behavior around the January 6 uprising. In response, Trump said Milley should be tried for treason.

In a statement, Milley said he was "deeply grateful" to Biden for the pardon so he would no longer have to worry about "retribution."

"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 added.

Dr. Anthony Fauci was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health for nearly 40 years and was Biden's chief medical adviser until his retirement in 2022. 

He helped coordinate the nation's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and drew Trump's ire when he refused to back Trump's unsubstantiated claims about the virus.

Biden pardons January 6 committee and police officers

Biden also said the committee formed to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol had done its job with integrity. The outgoing president 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.

Members of the January 6 committee include fierce Trump critic and former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

The committee's final report found that Trump criminally engaged in a "multi-part conspiracy" to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election, and that he failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol.

The pardons drew immediate criticism from Trump allies, including US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said on X that the officials were pardoned "because they are guilty of crimes."

Trump lashes out at preemptive pardons

In remarks delivered to supporters after being sworn in as president, Donald Trump attacked Biden's preemptive pardons of people that he said were, "very, very guilty of very bad crimes."

Trump began by suggesting that he had planned to talk about the pardons yet intimated that he wouldn't before doing exactly that, asking "Why are we trying to help a guy like Milley?" (….) "Why are we helping Liz Cheney? I mean, Liz Cheney is a disaster. She’s a crying lunatic and crying, crying Adam Kinzinger, he’s a super cryer."

Kinzinger, a veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq before entering the House of Representatives, served alongside Cheney as one of only two Republicans on the select committee.

Later, Trump suggested his own pardons, potentially freeing individuals jailed for their roles in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, saying, "I was going to talk about the J6 hostages, but you’ll be happy because, you know, it’s action, not words that count, and you’re going to see a lot of action on the J6 hostages."

js,dh/nm (AP, AFP)