Biden preemptively pardons Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley and Jan. 6 committee members

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Monday issued preemptive pardons to potential targets of the incoming Trump administration, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and lawmakers who served on the House Jan. 6 Committee.

“Our nation relies on dedicated, selfless public servants every day. They are the lifeblood of our democracy,” Biden said in a statement just hours before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office.

“Yet alarmingly, public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties,” Biden added.

Trump in his 2024 campaign repeatedly vowed “retribution” on his political enemies, specifically singling out lawmakers like Liz Cheney who investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump said Cheney and other committee members should be put in jail.

Milley, who retired as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2023, has long been a target of Republican attacks over the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been a lightning rod for criticism over the federal government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Milley put out a statement shortly after Biden’s announcement.

“My family and I are deeply grateful for the President’s action today,” he said. “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.”

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve our great country in uniform for over four decades, and I will continue to keep faith and loyalty to our nation and Constitution until my dying breath,” Milley added.

Fauci told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl he accepted the pardon and is grateful for it.

“I really truly appreciate the action President Biden has taken today on my behalf,” Fauci said. “Let me be perfectly clear, Jon, I have committed no crime, you know that, and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me.”

But Fauci said the threats and possibility of prosecution “creates immeasurable and intolerable distress on me and my family.”

ABC News reported in early December that Biden was considering such an action, days after he issued a full pardon for his son, Hunter Biden. In an exit interview with USA Today earlier this month, Biden signaled he was still wrestling with the decision.

Some Democrats argued against preemptive pardons, including Sen. Adam Schiff, who served on the House Jan. 6 committee.

“The precedent of giving blanket pardons, preemptive blanket pardons on the way out of an administration, I think is a precedent we don’t want to set,” Schiff said on ABC’s “This Week” in December.

But Biden, in his statement on Monday, expressed concern about attempts to rewrite the violence that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” Biden said. “But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing. Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families.”

“That is why 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,” he said. “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. Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”

Harry Dunn, a former Capitol Police officer, said he was “eternally grateful” to Biden for the action but also for his leadership.

“I wish this pardon weren’t necessary, but unfortunately, the political climate we are in now has made the need for one somewhat of a reality. I, like all of the other public servants, was just doing my job and upholding my oath, and I will always honor that,” Dunn said.

ABC News’ Matt Seyler and Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.

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