
WASHINGTON DC, – President Biden Monday pardoned science advisor Anthony Fauci in the final hours of his remaining presidency to ensure protection against potential “revenge” that the Trump administration may act on, according to MedPage Today.
The publication noted, “Fauci has since become a target of intense hatred and vitriol from people on the right, who blame him for mask mandates and other policies they believe infringed on their rights, even as hundreds of thousands of people were dying.”
MedPage Today added, “Fauci was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH for nearly 40 years, including during Trump’s term in office and later served as Biden’s chief medical advisor until his retirement in 2022.
“He helped coordinate the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and raised Trump’s ire when he resisted Trump’s untested public health notions.”
According to MedPage Today, “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,” Biden said in a statement.’
Biden further states, according to MedPage Today, “Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”
“The decision comes after Donald Trump warned of an enemies list filled with those who have crossed him politically or sought to hold him accountable for his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and his role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,” said MedPage Today.
Biden also pardoned retired Gen. Mark Milley and other members of the House committee that were involved in investigating the January 6 attack.
MedPage Today states, “Mark Milley is the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He later called Trump a fascist and detailed Trump’s conduct around the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. He said he was grateful to Biden for a pardon so he no longer has to worry about “retribution.”’
According to MedPage Today, Trump selected Cabinet nominees who supported lies he told about the election and pledged to punish those who were involved in efforts to investigate him.
“It’s unclear whether those pardoned by Biden would need to apply for the clemency or even accept the offer at all. Any acceptance could be seen as a tacit admission of guilt or wrongdoing, validating years of attacks by Trump and his supporters, even though those who have been pardoned have not been formally accused of any crimes,” said MedPage Today.
MedPage Today added that “the pardons, announced with just hours left in his presidency, have been the subject of heated debate for months at the highest levels of the White House. It’s customary for a president to grant clemency at the end of his term, but those acts of mercy are usually offered to Americans who have been convicted of crimes.
“Biden has used the power in the broadest and most untested way possible: to pardon those who have not even been investigated yet. The decision lays the groundwork for an even more expansive use of pardons by Trump and future presidents.”
According to MedPage Today, “While the Supreme Court last year ruled that the president enjoys broad immunity from prosecution for what could be considered official acts, the president’s aides and allies enjoy no such shield. There are fears that Trump or future presidents could use the promise of a blanket pardon to encourage allies to take actions they might otherwise resist for fear of running afoul of the law.”
MedPage Today most importantly notes, “Biden also extended pardons to members and staff of the Jan. 6 committee that investigated the attack, as well as the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the committee about their experiences that day, overrun by an angry, violent mob of Trump supporters.
“Biden is not the first to consider such preemptive pardons—Trump aides considered them for him and his supporters involved in his failed efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election that culminated in the violent riot at the Capitol. But Trump’s pardons never materialized before he left office four years ago.”
“Biden has used the power in the broadest and most untested way possible: to pardon those who have not even been investigated yet. The decision lays the groundwork for an even more expansive use of pardons by Trump and future presidents.”
According to MedPage Today, “While the Supreme Court last year ruled that the president enjoys broad immunity from prosecution for what could be considered official acts, the president’s aides and allies enjoy no such shield. There are fears that Trump or future presidents could use the promise of a blanket pardon to encourage allies to take actions they might otherwise resist for fear of running afoul of the law.”
Exactly, I don’t think this has been completely thought out. Think of what future Presidents can now do, what crimes they can get their cronies to commit for the President’s or his family’s profit knowing that they will get pardoned. Joe Biden’s family has been accused of doing just that and there’s plenty of evidence to support it and Biden pardoned them all.
This quote is from CNN of all places:
“It’s just unseemly,” said CNN’s John King during a live broadcast after Monday’s announcement mere hours before Biden left office. “If you’re going to do it, have the courage to do it in the light of day and explain it to the American people. It’s a stain on his legacy to do it like this.”
And what a coincidence, this covers the same time span Biden pardoned his son Hunter for:
“The outgoing president issued pardons to protect his brother spanning from Jan. 1, 2014, to Jan. 20, 2024, and other relatives from potential prosecution, including by the incoming Trump administration.”
https://nypost.com/2025/01/20/us-news/biden-pardons-his-brother-james-biden/
Sometimes I think Keith likes arguing against himself…
“In a series of eleventh-hour pardons, Biden set the stage for incoming President Donald Trump to listen to his worst impulses regarding special treatment to his allies and cronies.”
Link
HuffPost? LOL
I’m showing you that the left the doesn’t support these moves for the most part… why did you think they would?
But the article is saying it from the standpoint that the people that Biden preemptively pardoned have done nothing wrong and it’s all Trump’s fault that he has to pardon them. That’s a total load of BS.
And I agree that these pre-emptive pardons opens the door for so much corruption from future presidents as I stated above.
I think Biden made a lot of mistakes as I mentioned yesterday – if the rule of law holds, no need for a pardon. If the rule of law doesn’t hold, a pardon doesn’t do anything. That said, I was grateful that Biden commuted Leonard Peltier and some of the non-violent drug offenses, I wish he would have done more. Disturbed that Trump did a near blanket pardon of the January 6 folks, I saw even some Republicans thinking he went to far. We’ll see where this ends up.
I would like to see the ‘pardons in advance of conviction’ challenged and brought to the supreme court. This is a horrible precedent. Agree on Peltier and n.v. drug offenses. Not cool on Fauci, Biden’s family, and other ‘in-advance’ pardons.
A moment for mercy for many from two presidents