Joe Biden on Monday preemptively pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and virtually every member of Congress and D.C. law enforcement who was involved in the January 6 select committee investigation.
“I am exercising my authority under the Constitution to pardon General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee,” Biden proclaimed in a White House statement just hours before he was set to leave office.
“These public servants have served our nation with honor and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions,” he added.
The pardons were not unexpected as investigations into at least some of the individuals’ alleged crimes were potentially looming in the new Trump administration.
Elon Musk, President Trump’s pick to head up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), famously tweeted in December of 2022 that his pronouns were “Prosecute/Fauci.” He reiterated that message after Trump won the election in November of 2024: “My pronouns are still “prosecute/Fauci,” he posted.
“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 noted in his statement, although, historically a presidential pardon has carried an imputation of guilt.
In fact, the Biden Justice Department sent a message to Jan 6 defendants in December, telling them that acceptance of a presidential pardon is “a confession of guilt” for their alleged crimes.
Fauci’s pardon was backdated to 2014—the year then-President Obama’s gain-of-function ban took effect, which Fauci circumvented by outsourcing his coronavirus experiments to Wuhan China.
Fauci accepted the pardon in a statement shortly after Biden’s announcement, claiming he was subject to “politically motivated threats of investigation and prosecution.”
“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. 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,” Fauci wrote.
Milley’s pardon also dates back to January of 2014.
Milley issued a similar statement on Monday.
“My family and I are deeply grateful for the President’s action today,” he wrote. “After forty-three years of faithful service in uniform to our Nation, protecting and defending the Constitution, I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights.
“I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety,” he added.
While the galling move did not come as a surprise, some Republicans lawmakers took to social media to express their disgust.
“The guy who claimed he would ‘protect norms’ continues to bulldoze them and the Constitution until the bitter end. Biden truly is one of the worst Presidents in American history and will only be remembered as the guy between Trump’s two terms,” Senator Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) wrote on X.
As Fox News points out, Special Counsel Jack Smith, former FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland were issued pardons, despite the possibility they could be prosecuted by the incoming administration.