Rep. Jim Jordan ripped President Biden for considering preemptive pardons for former Rep. Liz Cheney and Dr. Anthony Fauci, among others.
“This is funny because they attacked Republicans, who, supposedly there were some Republicans … looking for pardons,” Mr. Jordan, Ohio Republican, said on Fox Business Thursday. “Oh that was the worst thing in the world and now they’re doing the same thing.”
Ms. Cheney, Wyoming Republican, co-chaired the Jan. 6 select committee that looked into the 2021 attack on the Capitol. She voted to impeach President Donald Trump and was a vocal critic of him. She became a campaign surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris and said she and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, would vote for her.
Republicans have railed against the select committee and have now vowed to investigate it.
“And never forget, this committee, to my knowledge, was the first committee in the history of Congress where there was no cross-examination element,” Mr. Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said. “It’s all one-sided. So there was no ability for Republicans, real Republicans, to give any counter perspective.”
“We know that this committee was caught fabricating things, saying things that weren’t true numerous times,” he said. “Look, I don’t know if there will be a pardon or not. What we do know is what this committee … turned out to be so inaccurate.”
When it comes to Dr. Fauci, who was in charge of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Jordan said it will be up to President-elect Trump’s Justice Department picks to decide if the doctor did anything legally wrong.
Republicans have slammed the decisions Dr. Fauci made during the pandemic like calling for masking and social distancing. They have held hearings to find out if he lied about information during the pandemic.
“What I do know is everything Dr. Fauci told us turned out to be false,” Mr. Jordan said.
Mr. Biden has been considering preemptive pardons to those who might be targeted by the next administration. He said in an interview with USA Today that when he met with Mr. Trump in November urged him to put the beef he has with Ms. Cheney and others behind him.
“I tried to make clear that there was no need, and it was counterintuitive for his interest to go back and try to settle scores,” Mr. Biden said, adding that Mr. Trump “didn’t reinforce it. He just basically listened.”
Another name floated on the preemptive pardon list is Sen. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who also played a role in the Jan. 6 committee.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.