Biden discusses blanket pardons for Cheney, Fauci, and Schiff

CV NEWS FEED // President Joe Biden on Thursday made headlines as top aides revealed his plans to pardon a number of controversial figures, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and General Mark Milley, before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. 

According to CBS News and Politico, Biden is considering distributing blanket pardons for people who may be in line to face legal trouble from the incoming administration. Biden is believed to be taking the counsel of White House Chief of Staff Jeffrey Zients and White House Counsel Ed Siskel while compiling a list of potential pardons.

As Politico reported:

Biden’s aides are deeply concerned about a range of current and former officials who could find themselves facing inquiries and even indictments, a sense of alarm which has only accelerated since Trump last weekend announced the appointment of Kash Patel to lead the FBI. Patel has publicly vowed to pursue Trump’s critics.

Trump had previously stated his desire to pursue legal action against several key figures who have served in the Biden administration, including those now mentioned on Biden’s list of potential pardons.

“I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family,” Trump said. 

Biden’s list of potential pardon recipients reportedly includes Sen. Liz Cheney, R-WY, Senator-elect Adam Schiff, D-CA, General Mark A. Milley, and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

However, Schiff had his own thoughts on being considered for a potential pardon. “I think this is frankly so implausible as not to be worthy of much consideration,” he said. “I would urge the president not to do that. I think it would seem defensive and unnecessary.”

Other members of Congress are more enthusiastic regarding the pardons. Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-PA, suggested that the pardons were a way to shield the American people and uphold the “rule of law.”

“Trump has made it clear that he is more focused on settling personal scores than on protecting the American people or upholding the rule of law,” Boyle stated. 

Biden previously promised to uphold the rule of law by not interfering with the Justice Department’s prosecution of his son Hunter, but has since changed his stance.

“From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted,” Biden admitted. 

The president then characterized his pardon of Hunter as an act of restoring justice:

For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision. 

In a Truth Social post, Trump called the pardon a “miscarriage of justice.”

“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” Trump retorted. “Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”

Members of Congress have been critical of Biden’s move to pardon his son after previously vowing not to do so. Former Rep. Joe Walsh, R-IL, an outspoken voice against Trump, suggested that Biden’s pardons were setting a precedent for the incoming Republican administration.

“Joe Biden put self before country, and stayed in the 2024 race too damn long. And that selfishness helped to reelect Trump,” wrote Walsh. “Joe Biden put self before country, and just pardoned his son. And that selfishness took the ‘no one is above the law’ argument against Trump off the table.”

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