President Joe Biden on Monday issued preemptive pardons to a slew of high-profile targets of President-elect Donald Trump — a striking last-minute effort to shield them from prosecution just hours before Trump, who has promised to punish his perceived enemies, is sworn in.
Biden issued the pardons to former public health official Anthony Fauci and former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. He also pardoned the members and staff of the House special committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection as well as officers from Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Capitol Police who testified before the committee. All of Monday’s pardon recipients have been verbally attacked by Trump, and many of his allies have called for them to face criminal charges. . . .
Several committee staffers told POLITICO that they were blindsided by Biden’s announcement and still weighing whether to accept — or could even be sure they were included in the clemency announcement. Biden’s statement included no list of names or language describing the scope of the pardons.