January 20, 2025
As he walked out the door – president Biden issued some very big pardons.
Look – before I tell you who received a pardon and why, you have to understand two things. One — every single president does this. Outgoing presidents always pardon or give clemency to certain folks as they leave office. And two – doing this is *always* controversial. I don’t care which president it is. They all do this.
Ok – so who did president Biden pardon this morning? He issued this very long statement issuing preemptive pardons for General Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, members of congress and staff who served on the January 6th select committee, and US Capitol and DC metropolitan police officers who testified before the select committee.
President Biden says specifically — 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. In fact – some of the members of the January 6th committee – to include former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger have been very vocal they didn’t want a pardon from president Biden.
So if they did nothing wrong – why issue these preemptive pardons? Well – according to president Biden because “even when individuals have done nothing wrong—and in fact have done the right thing—and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances.”
On top of that – on the campaign trail and as president-elect now president trump and his allies in congress had been signaling that all these people could be investigated or prosecuted. And all of these people have – at one time or another gotten sideways with trump and his allies. This move by Biden this morning really takes that option off the table.
Read the Statement on Biden’s pardons here.
Read the statement of Biden’s additional pardons for his family here.
