MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Biden issues last-minute pardons to those who feared revenge under Trump

Biden set the presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued, including his son Hunter

Outgoing US President Joseph Biden used his final hours in office to issue a preemptive blanket pardon favoring members of his family, Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, who cochaired with the Democratic Bennie Thompson the Congressional Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riots. The body eventually produced a report that said Trump had engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election. Cheney even announced he would vote for Kamala Harris in last year's elections.

Biden's measure would also protect its beneficiaries from future prosecutions feared as “retaliation” by the new administration. In fact, Donald Trump's cabinet is made up of people who stood by him during those controversial days.

“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 that these attacks will stop,” Biden said in a statement. “Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and are ultimately exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can cause irreparable damage to their reputations and finances,” he continued.

He also insisted that he was taking this action “in good conscience,” and because he could not stand aside under the threat of retaliation from the incoming Donald Trump administration. “These are extraordinary circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing,” Biden wrote in a statement about the first batch of pardons. “Unfounded and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families.”

“Alarmingly, public officials have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully carrying out their duties,” Biden also argued. Trump has promised to grant swift clemency to those involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots.

Fauci served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease for decades, including during Trump's first presidency. He was behind mass mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations and mask-wearing campaigns, while Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump's first term called the Republican leader a fascist.

Biden also stressed that his pardon should not be interpreted as proof of guilt. “The issuance of these pardons should not be misconstrued as an admission of wrongdoing by any individual, nor should the acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense. Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless service to our country.”

In any case, preemptive pardons of this magnitude have never been issued before. When President Gerald Ford granted his predecessor, Richard Nixon, a “full, free and absolute pardon” in 1974 for the Watergate scandal he was on the brink of imminent prosecution.

According to Taylor Budowich, Trump's deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel, Biden's pardons “will go down as the greatest assault on the American justice system in history.”

“With the stroke of a pen, he has unilaterally shielded a group of political cronies from the scales of justice. This is yet another dangerous and irreversible erosion of American norms,” Budowich wrote on X.

“After forty-three years of faithful service to our nation in uniform, protecting and defending the Constitution, I do not wish to spend the remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who might unjustly seek retribution for perceived slights,” Milley said. “I do not want to subject my family, my friends, and those with whom I have served to the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety.”

”As (Biden) said, we have done nothing wrong, but the unfounded accusations and threats are real to me and my family,“ Fauci asserted. ”Despite the accomplishments that my colleagues and I have achieved during my long career in public service, I have been the subject of politically motivated threats of investigation and prosecution,“ Fauci said in a statement. ”There is absolutely no basis for these threats. Let me be clear: I have committed no crime.“

In an interview with USA Today, Biden said he told Trump during their Oval Office meeting shortly after the president-elect's victory in November that ”there was no need, and it was counterintuitive to his interest, to go back and try to settle scores.“

”The pardons are actually great news. No one who has just been pardoned will be able to refuse to testify in a civil, criminal, or congressional proceeding on the basis of the 5th Amendment,“ said one legal analyst. In addition, the pardons would not protect those who received them from congressional investigations or other types of investigations, such as tax investigations. The pardons would only protect them from federal criminal charges.

It is now feared in Washington that Trump, or any future outgoing president, could use the same tool to protect any White House staffer from any investigation. The ”full and unconditional” pardons for Fauci and Milley cover the period back to January 1, 2014.

Biden, described by many as an institutionalist, has set the presidential record for the most individual pardons and commutations issued, including his son Hunter.