Biden issues preemptive pardons to protect himself from Trump reprisals

President Biden moved on Monday to protect some of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s most high-profile opponents from a promised “retaliation campaign” by issuing preemptive pardons that would make it harder, if not impossible, for the next administration to prosecute them.

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

“These are unusual circumstances and I cannot in good conscience do anything,” said Mr. Biden in a statement. “Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety and financial security of targeted individuals and their families.

“Even when individuals have done nothing wrong – and have in fact done the right thing – and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances,” he added.

After acting just hours before leaving office, Mr. Biden effectively used the president’s constitutional power to pardon a protective shield against what he claims would be politically driven revenge. No other president has used executive clemency in such a broad and overt way to thwart a successor he believes would abuse his power.

When Mr. Biden has been considering such a move in recent days, his aides have stressed, adding that he does not believe the people who would receive pardons have actually committed any crimes. But he and his aides have quoted Mr. Trump’s repeated promises to go after them when they take office on January 20.

Throughout his campaign last year, Trump threatened to prosecute Democrats, election officialslaw enforcement officials, intelligence officials, journalists, former members of his own staff and Republicans who do not support him, often without identifying any specific criminal activity.

Mrs. Cheney and Dr. Fauci is among those he and his allies have singled out by name, along with others including Mr. Biden himself. Mr. Trump has said he would “appoint a very special prosecutor to go after” Mr. Biden and his family.

Mr. Biden previously issued a pardon to his son Hunter, which covered every possible crime over an 11-year period, but the president did not include himself or other members of his family in the preemptive pardon announced Monday.

Not everyone who is targeted by Mr. Trump, has welcomed pardons, arguing that accepting them would give the impression that they had done something wrong.

“As soon as you take a pardon, it looks like you’re guilty of something,” former Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois, who served on the Jan. 6 committee with Mrs. Cheney, said on CNN this month.

“I am guilty of nothing but bringing the truth to the American people and in the process embarrassing Donald Trump. Because for 187 minutes he sat there and did absolutely nothing and showed how weak and scared he really was,” he added, referring to the former president’s inaction during the January 6 attack.

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

Others said it would be an inappropriate use of the pardon power. “It would be the wrong precedent to set,” Senator Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, who led the prosecution under Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial, said on CNN this month. “I don’t want to see every president from now on walking out the door giving a broad category of pardons to members of their administration.”

Mr. Biden’s use of the pardon power to immunize people who have not even been investigated, much less charged or convicted of a crime, has no clear precedent. But some legal scholars have said he is within the bounds of his authority. The closest precedent may 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 a real threat of prosecution from a special counsel investigating the Watergate scandal that forced his resignation, and Mr. Ford did not act to thwart a future president that Mr. Biden is.

Mr. Trump has hinted at times that he might not follow through on his threats, saying that success as president would be the true “retaliation.” But the allies he has tapped to lead the Justice Department and the FBI are considered partisan anchors for him, and their picks, which still need to be confirmed by the Senate, have alarmed many of Mr. Trump’s critics and indicated that he is serious about retaliation. .

As Minister of Justice, Mr. Trump Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general who repeated his false claims about the 2020 election. As FBI director, he has appointed Kash Patel, a firebrand who has vowed to “come after” Trump’s critics in the media and identified his own list over 60 people he considers “deep state” obstacles to the incoming president.

Mr. Trump has said on social media that Mrs. Cheney “should be prosecuted for what she has done to our country” and that the entire January 6 committee “should be prosecuted for their lies and frankly treason!” He said that Vice President Kamala Harris “should be charged and prosecuted.” He has suggested that General Milley deserved execution.