President Biden moved hours before leaving office Monday to guard against President-elect Donald J. Trump’s campaign promises of “recovery” by granting former pardons to lead politically motivated prosecutions.
Among those who received amnesty was Gen. Mark A. Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a longtime government scientist; and all members of the bipartisan House committee investigating the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol, including former Rep. Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming.
“I believe in the rule of law, and I am hopeful that the power of our law enforcement agencies will ultimately prevail over politics,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. But these are rare cases, and I can’t do anything in good conscience. Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety and financial security of the targeted individuals and their families.
“Even if people have done nothing wrong – and have actually done the right thing – and will eventually be released, the fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputation and finances,” he added.
When he issued amnesty, Mr. Biden effectively turned the president’s pardon power into a defense against what he believed would be politically motivated retaliation. No other president has used such broad and transparent clemency to prevent a successor he believed would abuse his power.
Mr. Biden emphasized that he did not grant amnesty because any of those who received it had actually committed a crime. “The issuance of this pardon should not be mistaken as an admission that any person has sinned, and acceptance should not be mistaken as an admission of guilt for any crime,” he said.
Throughout his campaign last year, Mr. Trump has threatened to prosecute Democrats, election workers, law enforcement officials, intelligence officials, journalists, former staffers and Republicans who do not support him, often without identifying specific criminal acts.
General Milley, Ms Cheney and Dr Fauci were among those named by Mr Trump and his supporters. Mr. Biden also granted amnesty on Monday to all staff members of the January 6 investigative committee as well as Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers who testified during the investigation.
Mr. Trump said he would “appoint a really special prosecutor to succeed” Mr. Biden and his family. Mr. Biden previously granted a pardon to his son Hunter that covered any possible crime over an 11-year period, but the president did not include himself or any other members of his family in the earlier pardon announced Monday.
Ms Cheney and Dr Fauci did not immediately react to the pardon, but General Milley publicly thanked Mr Biden.
“After forty-three years of working faithfully in uniform for our nation, defending and protecting the Constitution, I do not want to waste any remaining time that Jehovah gives me fighting those who are unjust who want to take revenge for the wrongs done to me,” he said. statement. “I don’t want to put my family, my friends, and those I’ve worked with through the inconvenience, expense, and worry that results.”
Not all are intended by Mr. Trump accepted the pardon, saying that accepting it would give the impression that they had done something wrong.
“As soon as you take out a pardon, it looks like you’re guilty of something,” former Representative Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican who served on the January 6 committee with Ms. Cheney, told CNN this month.
“I am not guilty of anything except to bring the truth to the American people and, in this case, to embarrass Donald Trump. Because for 187 minutes, he sat there and did nothing and showed that he was really weak and scared,” he added, referring to the former president’s inaction during the Jan. 6. “So no, I don’t want it. .”
Some say it will be a misuse of the power of amnesty. “It would be the wrong precedent to set,” said Senator Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, who led the prosecution during Mr. Trump, said on CNN this month. “I don’t want to see every president after this walk out the door handing out a bunch of pardons to members of their administration.”
Using Mr. Biden’s amnesty power to immunize people who have not been investigated, let alone charged or convicted of a crime, has no clear precedent. But some legal experts have said that he is within the limits of his authority. The closest example would be President Gerald R. Ford’s pardon of his disgraced predecessor, Richard M. Nixon, in 1974 even though he had not been charged with any crimes.
But Mr. Nixon faced the very real threat of prosecution from the special counsel investigating the Watergate scandal that forced his resignation, and Mr. Ford was not acting to stop the future president the way Mr. Biden is.
Mr. Trump has sometimes suggested that he might not follow through on his threats, saying that winning the presidency would be a real “punishment.” But the allies he has tapped to run the Justice Department and the FBI are considered partisan heroes, and their choice, which still needs to be confirmed by the Senate, has alarmed many of Mr. Trump’s critics. .
To the Attorney General, Mr. Trump chose Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general who agreed with his false allegations about the 2020 election. For the director of the FBI, he named Kash Patel, an activist who has vowed to “go after” critics of Mr.
Mr. Trump said on social media that Ms. Cheney “should be prosecuted for what he did to our country” and that the entire January 6th committee “should be prosecuted for their lies, and frankly, TREASON!” He suggested that General Milley deserves to be killed because he called his Chinese colleague after Jan. 6 to warn Beijing against taking advantage of Washington’s crisis.
Dr. Fauci, who has served in government for 50 years and as the nation’s top infectious disease expert for 38 years under multiple presidents of both parties, was targeted by Mr. Stephen K. Bannon, former strategist of Mr. Trump, said Dr. Fauci, General Milley and others should be prosecuted. “It deserves what we call strict Roman justice, and we are willing to give it,” said Mr. Bannon on election night.
The pardon of Mr. Biden did not go beyond other possible Trump targets, including federal and state prosecutors charging the incoming president with trying to subvert the 2020 election, mishandling classified documents and concealing payments to an aging movie star. he said he had an argument with Mr. Trump.
Three of the four charges against him have now been dismissed or successfully thwarted by his election to return to the presidency, but the conviction of Mr. Trump is on 34 charges in the money laundering case, making him the first person to be convicted of a crime ever to be inaugurated as president.
Mr. Patel made his own list of “deep state” statistics that he blamed for preventing Mr. Trump, including John R. Bolton, former national security adviser; William P. Barr, former attorney general; Mark T. Esper, former secretary of defense; Pat A. Cipollone, former White House counsel; Gina Haspel, former CIA director; and Christopher A. Wray, outgoing FBI director. None of them received amnesty.
Helen Cooper, Michael D. Shear again Michael S. Schmidt reporting contributed.
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