Former President Joe Biden used his constitutional authority to preemptively pardon several people, including relatives, minutes before Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.
Biden cited possible political retribution as the reason for his decision to grant preemptive pardons.
I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing.
Among those pardoned was Trump’s former Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired General Mark Milley. Biden also pardoned members and staff of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol (January 6th Committee), including former Republican Representative Liz Cheney.
“The Select Committee fulfilled this mission with integrity and a commitment to discovering the truth. Rather than accept accountability, those who perpetrated the January 6th attack have taken every opportunity to undermine and intimidate those who participated in the Select Committee in an attempt to rewrite history, erase the stain of January 6th for partisan gain, and seek revenge, including by threatening criminal prosecutions.”
The former president granted the preemptive pardon to his former chief medical adviser, Dr Anthony Fauci. The doctor and his family had previously received threats from those who opposed his approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, including mandates to wear masks.
On Monday, Biden also pardoned relatives who were not under investigation, including his brother James Biden and his wife Sara Biden; his sister Valerie Biden Owens and her husband John Owens; and his brother Francis 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. The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.
In December 2024 he pardoned his son Hunter Biden for gun and tax offences.
