Biden issued an early pardon to guard against Trump’s retaliation

President Biden moved on Monday to guard some of the most prominent enemies of President-elect Donald J. Trump on campaign promises of “retaliation” by issuing pardons. ahead of what may make it more difficult if not impossible to prosecute them in the next administration. .

Among those who received early pardons were General Mark A. Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a longtime government scientist who advised Mr. Trump during the coronavirus pandemic; and all members of the bipartisan committee that investigated the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, including former representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming.

“These are exceptional circumstances, and I can’t do anything in good conscience,” Mr. Biden said in a statement. “The baseless and politically motivated investigation is destroying the lives, safety and financial security of the targeted individuals and their families.

“Even if people have done nothing wrong – and in fact have done the right thing – and will eventually be convicted, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can damage reputations and money,” he added.

Acting just hours before leaving office, Mr. Biden effectively turned the president’s constitutional power to pardon a crime into a shield against what he says is political vendetta. No other president has used executive pardons in such a broad and overt way to stop a successor he believed would abuse his power.

As Mr. Biden has weighed in on such a move in recent days, his aides have stressed that he does not believe the people to be pardoned have actually committed crimes. But he and his aides cited Mr. Trump’s repeated vows to pursue them when he took office on January 20.

During his campaign last year, he threatened to harass Democrats, election workers, law enforcement officials, science officials, journalists, former members of his staff. personally and the Republicans who do not support Mr. Trump, usually without any indication of specific criminal activity.

Mrs. Cheney and Dr. Fauci was among those he and his allies pressed on his behalf, along with others, including Mr. Biden himself. Mr Trump said he would “appoint a special prosecutor to prosecute” Mr Biden and his family.

Mr. Biden previously issued a pardon for his son Hunter that covered all potential crimes over an 11-year period, but the president did not include himself or other members of his family in the earlier pardon. announced on Monday.

Not all of Mr Trump’s targets have welcomed the pardons, saying that accepting them would give the impression that they have done something wrong.

“As soon as you receive a pardon, you look guilty of something,” said former Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois who served on the January 6 committee with Mrs. Cheney, in on CNN this month.

“I am not guilty of anything other than bringing the truth to the American people and, in doing so, embarrassing Donald Trump. Because for 187 minutes he sat there and did nothing and showed his true weakness and fear,” he added, referring to the inaction of the former president during the January 6 attack.

“No, I don’t want it,” he said of the pardon.

Others said it would be an improper use of the pardon power. “It would be a bad precedent to set,” Senator Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, who led the prosecution during Mr. Trump’s first trial, told CNN this month. “I don’t want to see every president in the future walking out the door giving broad pardons to members of his administration.”

There is no clear precedent for Mr. Biden using his pardon power to pardon people who have never been investigated, let alone charged or convicted of a crime. But some legal experts said he was within his jurisdiction. The closest example is President Gerald R. Ford’s pardon of his predecessor, Richard M. Nixon, in 1974 even though he was not charged with any crime.

But Mr. Nixon faced a real threat of impeachment from the special counsel investigating the Watergate scandal that forced his resignation, and Mr. Nixon made no move to stop a future president like Mr. Biden.

Mr. Trump has at times suggested that he may not follow through on his threats, saying that success as president is the real “retaliation.” But the allies he tapped to run the Justice Department and the FBI are seen as stalwarts on his side, and his choice, which must still be confirmed by the Senate, has surprised many of Mr Trump’s critics and indicated that he was serious about answering. .

For attorney general, Mr. Trump chose Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general who echoed her false claims about the 2020 election. For FBI director, he named Kash Patel, an employee firefighter who has vowed to “go after” Mr Trump’s critics in the media and pointed to a list of 60 people he sees as obstacles to the president from.

Mr. Trump said on social media that “Mrs. Cheney should be prosecuted for what she did to our country” and that the entire committee on January 6 “should be prosecuted for their lies and, frankly, treason!” He said Vice President Kamala Harris “should be convicted and prosecuted.” He suggests that General Milley deserves to be killed.