By Jared Bridges
The Washington Stand
Joe Biden certainly won’t be accused of going quietly into the night.
Just hours before he departed the White House as president, Biden issued a new round of pardons. The pardons covered, according to the White House, “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.” The White House statement noted that, “these public servants have served our nation with honor and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.”
Biden has been no stranger to use of his pen to issue clemency. The Office of the Pardon Attorney, which falls under the Department of Justice (DOJ), lists 65 pardons prior to the ones issued on January 19, 2025. All the prior pardons were for individuals who were either sentenced or charged with an offense. The pardons for Milley, Fauci, and those associated with the January 6 prosecution and investigation included no specific charges, only potential infractions. In addition to 72 total pardons, he issued 1,671 commutations during his term. His pardon in December of his son Hunter Biden caused the most controversy, as it followed Biden’s statements that he wouldn’t pardon Hunter, who had been convicted of three felony charges.
Biden said in his statement, “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.”
Matt Carpenter, director of FRC Action, told The Washington Stand that these pardons could have the effect of throwing a shade of guilt upon the Biden administration. “The Biden Department of Justice argued just last month in federal court that anyone accepting a pardon from Donald Trump for their involvement on January 6, 2021, is ‘a confession of guilt.’ I wonder if they would similarly admit Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, and the January 6th Select Committee accepting pardons from Joe Biden is an admission of guilt,” observed Carpenter.
Carpenter believes that the action could cause a reaction opposite what Biden intended. “While these pardons provide Fauci, Milley, et al, amnesty from past crimes, the American people will see this as an admission of guilt. Not only that, but the last fumes of legitimacy of the Democratic Party have blown away. It will take them a generation to gain back the trust of the American people on the rule of law.”
Indeed, Biden’s own DOJ argued on December 11, 2024 in a filing regarding a January 6 defendant that, “The defendant would first have to accept the pardon, which necessitates a confession of guilt. See Burdick v. United States, 236 U.S. 79, 94, (1915) (“[A pardon] carries an imputation of guilt; acceptance a confession of it.”). And a pardon “does not erase a judgement of conviction, or its underlying legal and factual findings.”
Milley released a statement saying, “My family and I are deeply grateful for the President’s action today. 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.”
The Fauci pardon protects him “for any offenses against the United States which he may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through the date of this pardon…” Fauci told ABC News Correspondent Jonathan Karl that, “I really truly appreciate the action President Biden has taken today on my behalf. 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.”
Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has famously clashed with Fauci in the past, posted on X:
“If there was ever any doubt as to who bears responsibility for the COVID pandemic, Biden’s pardon of Fauci forever seals the deal.
“As Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee I will not rest until the entire truth of the coverup is exposed.
“Fauci’s pardon will only serve as an accelerant to pierce the veil of deception.
“Ignominious! Anthony Fauci will go down in history as the first government scientist to be preemptively pardoned for a crime.”
Minutes before the transfer of power to President Donald Trump took place, Biden also issued four additional pardons, including one pardon covering family members from potential offenses going back to 2014, including his brother James Biden and his wife Sara, his sister Valerie Owens and her husband John, and his brother Francis Biden. Seemingly unfazed at the mounting accusations of circumventing the legal process, Biden doubled down in his statement, “I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing.”
Originally published at The Washington Stand!
