mere hours before Trump’s inauguration, Biden attempted to scuttle some of Trump’s campaign-trail threats.
Trump had repeatedly pledged retribution against those who criticised him, prompting Biden to take an extraordinary action: He issued preemptive pardons for those who might be prosecuted under Trump’s presidency.
Biden’s pardon offered protection to three frequent targets of Trump’s ire, as well as members of his own family.
One was Dr Anthony Fauci, the immunologist who clashed with Trump over the country’s COVID-19 emergency response. Another was General Mark Milley, a Trump appointee-turned-critic who chaired the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a panel of top military leaders, from 2019 to 2023.
Also shielded under the pardon were members of the House Select Committee on the January 6 attack, which investigated the events of January 6, 2021.
On that day, a group of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in an apparent effort to stop the certification of Trump’s defeat in 2020.
In its final report, the committee referred Trump for criminal prosecution, accusing him of assisting an insurrection against the government.
Trump has repeatedly threatened members of that committee with imprisonment, particularly Liz Cheney, its most prominent Republican.
“For what they did, yeah, honestly, they should go to jail,” Trump told the TV programme Meet the Press in December.
Biden noted these threats in his statement on Monday, warning of potential prosecutions.
“Our nation relies on dedicated, selfless public servants every day. They are the lifeblood of our democracy,” Biden wrote. “Yet alarmingly, public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties.”
However, Biden emphasised that these pardons “should not be mistaken as an acknowledgement that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing”.