High-profile Democrats and ex President Bidenpersonally, he warned against blanket, preemptive pardons before Biden finally approved the passes of Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired General Mark Milley and his family members in the 11th hour of his administration.
“I think the precedent of granting a general pardon, a preemptive general pardon on leaving the administration, is a precedent we don’t want to set,” now-Sen. Adam Schiff warned on ABC’s “This Week” in December.
Biden ended his tenure in the Oval Office on Monday, when President Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. But hours before the inauguration, the White House announced pardons for both Fauci and Milley and those involved in the select committee’s investigation on Jan. 6 — though those individuals were not identified by name.
And just 22 minutes before leaving office, Biden also pardoned his family, including brother James B. Biden, sister Valerie Biden Owens, brother-in-law John T. Owens and brother Francis W. Biden. The former president had earlier issued a general pardon to his adult son, Hunter Bidenafter being convicted in two separate federal cases last year.
dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the president. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“My family has been subjected to relentless attacks and threats, motivated solely by the 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 pardoning his family.
Speculation has grown that Biden will issue blanket and preemptive pardons to those considered Trump’s political enemieslike former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, as well as Milley and Fauci and members of the Biden family.
Democrats from former President Bill Clinton to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., have warned Biden against granting such pardons in the final days of his administration.
BIDEN PARDONS MARK MILLEY, ANTHONY FAUCI, J6 BOARD MEMBERS
Former President Bill Clinton speaks on stage on December 4, 2024 in New York. (Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for The New York Times)
“If President Biden wanted to talk to me about it, I would talk to him about it. But I don’t think I should be giving public advice on pardon powers. I think that’s also — it’s a very personal thing, but it’s — I hope that won’t do,” Clinton said of preemptive pardons on “The View.”
Senator Dick Durbin speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, December 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin also warned against such pardons in an interview with CNN last month, noting, “when we talk about a preemptive pardon, where does it begin and where does it end?”
Klobuchar echoed that sentiment in the same month.
Senator Amy Klobuchar warned against preemptive pardons. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“I’m not a fan of these [preemptive pardons]”, she said. “I didn’t like the pardon of the president’s son. I didn’t think that was wise. But I’m also very concerned about this idea of preemptive pardons.”
Biden also warned against preemptive pardons before taking office in 2020, at a time when there was speculation that Trump would pardon his children and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
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“I’m concerned about the precedent it sets and how the rest of the world views us as a nation of law and justice,” Biden said in a December 2020 CNN interview.
In the end, Trump did not pardon his grown children or the former mayor of New York.
President Biden signs proclamations creating national monuments at the White House on January 14, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
After the Jan. 6 11th-hour pardons of Milley, Fauci and Select Committee staff and families, political leaders and lawmakers condemned the decision, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“One of Biden’s biggest abuses of power was forcing executive branch mRNA strikes (which Florida successfully blocked). Now, on his way out, Biden is forgiving a chief henchman and so many other abuses. The swamp is protecting its own,” said DeSantis, Republican, on Monday.
BIDEN CHANGED ALMOST 2,500 SENTENCES IN THE LAST DAYS OF THE PRESIDENCY
Fauci was the national spokesperson for the nation’s response to the pandemic, including advising then-President Trump in 2020 on how to deal with COVID-19 as it swept through communities.
dr. Anthony Fauci appears before the House Select Committee on Pandemic Oversight and Accountability on June 3, 2024 in Washington, DC (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
But his affection for the president weakened over time, and Trump called him and fellow pandemic task force advisor Dr. Deborah Birx brushed it off as “two self-promoters trying to reinvent history to cover their bad instincts and misguided recommendations.”
Fauci said Monday that he appreciated his pardon, although he stressed that he “didn’t commit any crime.”
“I really, really appreciate the action that President Biden took today on my behalf,” Fauci told ABC News’ Washington chief of staff. Jonathan Karl.
“To be perfectly clear, Jon, I have committed no crime, you know that, and there is no possible basis for any accusations or threats of criminal investigation or prosecution against me,” he continued.
DR. FAUCI SAYS APPRECIATES PRESIDENT BIDEN’S PARDON, BUT INSISTS ‘NO CRIME WAS COMMITTED’
Gene. Mark Milley speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon on July 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, file)
Milley, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also has a contentious relationship with Trump and his supporters. He called Trump a “fascist” and “the most dangerous person for this country” ahead of the November election.
WHO ELSE COULD PARDON BIDEN AFTER HUNTER WAS SHAMEFUL WITH THE JUDGMENTS?
Trump has repeatedly criticized Milley since leaving office, including after the United States’ failed withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, when he called Milley “a loser who embarrassed us in Afghanistan and elsewhere!”
After the election, Milley appeared to retract his characterization of Trump as a “fascist,” saying America would “be fine” under Trump’s second administration.
Rep. Liz Cheney during her campaign party in Jackson, Wyoming, on August 16, 2022. (Reuters/David Stubbs)
Liz Cheney, a Republican former congresswoman from Wyoming, and Democratic Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Committee on Jan. 6, were also targets of Trump’s ire. Biden did not mention Cheney or Thompson by name in his statement, instead pardoning “personnel that were on the select committee.”
Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States on January 20, 2025. (Trump-Vance Transition Team)
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“The issuance of these pardons should not be misconstrued as an admission that any individual was involved in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt of any wrongdoing,” Biden said in a White House statement. “Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless dedication to our country.”
