President Biden’s last-minute preemptive pardons of some of President-elect Donald Trump’s biggest critics, including Gen. Mark Milley, former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney and Dr. Anthony Fauci, were panned Monday on social media, hours before he will exit the White House.
“Joe Biden using his last day in office to pardon Liz Cheney, among others, is the perfect expression of the American political realignment and the rotted soul of the Democratic Party,” journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote.
Biden included anyone who served on the House Jan. 6 committee in the list of preemptive pardons. Milley accepted the pardon, while Fauci thanked the president but maintained that he did nothing wrong.
NBC’s Kristen Welker reported that Trump texted her his reaction, which read, “It is disgraceful. Many are guilty of MAJOR CRIMES!”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said, “If there was ever any doubt as to who bears responsibility for the COVID pandemic, Biden’s pardon of Fauci forever seals the deal.”
Milley thanked Biden in a statement on Monday.
“My family and I are deeply grateful for the President’s action today,” he wrote. “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.”
Biden issued several preemptive pardons to prominent critics of Donald Trump on Monday. (Left to right: (Photo by: William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images), (Photo by Mandel Ngan – Pool/Getty Images), (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images), (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images))
“I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety,” he added.
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“The swamp protects its own,” Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., wrote on social media.
Biden said in a statement that, “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.”
Ex-Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill lamented the “sad” pardons during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Monday and said it set a precedent for the incoming president.
Biden was criticized for pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, in early December, after repeatedly telling Americans he believed in the rule of law and would accept the outcome of his son’s trial.
“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,” the president said in a December statement about his son’s pardon.
“Biden pardoned Fauci. He says it’s not an admission of guilt. But if Fauci were innocent, no pardon would be needed. The evidence suggests Fauci helped create the Covid pandemic, and then covered it up. The investigation must go forward. All Covid & Fauci Files must be released,” Michael Shellenberger, the CBR Chair of Politics, Censorship and Free Speech at the University of Austin, wrote on social media.
“No one is above the law except people who get blanket, preemptive pardons,” commentator Mary Kathrine Ham wrote. “Ignominy to the end.”
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Notably, Special Counsel Jack Smith, former FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland are not included in the pardon, despite speculation that they may face backlash from the incoming administration.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.