In his final hours as president, Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons for Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the capitol, and his own family in a sweeping move meant to guard against revenge from incoming president Donald Trump.
As Biden entered Trump’s inauguration, news broke that he had pardoned his brothers, sister and their spouses — James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owen, John T. Owens and Francis W. Biden.
“My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end,” Biden said of the surprising move, which runs counter to Biden’s stance on preemptive pardons when he first took office.
In issuing the pardons for Fauci and those connected to the Jan. 6 investigations, Biden stressed that they do not acknowledge any wrongdoing by the individuals.
“The issuance of these 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 said in a statement. “Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”
Dr. Fauci said the pardon puts his and his family’s mind at ease as the doctor who helped chart the country’s way through the COVID-19 pandemic has been the subject of threats of death and prosecution.
“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,” he said. “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.”
In addition to Fauci and House members who investigated the Jan. 6 attack, Biden also preemptively pardoned former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, who recounted Trump’s actions on Jan. 6. Biden also pardoned U.S. Capitol and Washington D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified in front of the House committee on the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
The pardons come as Trump has promised to pardon individuals convicted of crimes during Jan. 6 in his first hours in office, and has threatened retribution against those who punished the attackers.
In the final minutes of his presidency, Biden also granted clemency to ailing Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier, who was jailed 50 years ago by the U.S. government in connection to a murder trial.