President Biden said the pardons are not an "acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing" but rather protect individuals from "unjustified and politically motivated prosectutions."
With just hours remaining in office, President Joe Biden issued a slew of pardons Monday morning to pre-emptively protect people President-elect Donald Trump had threatened.Biden pardoned former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley,
The extraordinary actions by the outgoing president reflect America’s tensions as a successor takes office who has said his opponents should be jailed.
After the pardons were announced, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — both Republicans — posted to X claiming that issuing pardons to Fauci, Milley and others implied they were guilty of a crime, as did other right-leaning accounts on the platform.
The outgoing president acted to short-circuit incoming President Trump’s stated plans to exact retribution from perceived enemies.
President Biden granted pardons to several prominent public servants Monday who have faced attacks from President-elect Trump in one of his final acts in office. Biden issued pardons for Dr.
President Joe Biden has pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The heads of the Jan. 6 committee say they're grateful for the decision by President Joe Biden to pardon them “not for breaking the law but for upholding it.”
"My family and I are deeply grateful for the President's action today," Milley said in a statement to USA Today provided by a spokesperson.
Earlier on Monday during the last hours of his presidency, Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons for the January 6 committee members.
After four years out of office, he vows to quickly undo many of the policies of his departing predecessor, Joe Biden.