On the morning of Monday, January 20th, his last day in office as President of the United States, President Joe Biden announced preemptive pardons of his political allies, including Liz Cheney, Gen. Mark Milley, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, claiming that Trump will seek to get revenge on them, and thus that he saw it as necessary to preemptively pardon them. That broke a pledge he made on CNN back in 2020.
In the CNN clip at hand, Biden was speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper, who asked him if the rumored preemptive pardons some suspected President Trump might issue concerned him. Tapper asked, President Trump is reportedly considering a wave of preemptive pardons. Does this concern you, All these preemptive pardons?”
Biden told him that the idea of preemptive pardons did concern him because it seemed to take a wrecking ball to the idea of rule of law in America, and would set a dire precedent. He said, “Well, it concerns me in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of laws and injustice.”
He then pledged that his administration would not do the same thing, namely it would not issue preemptive pardons or make policy by tweet. He said, “You know, not going to see in our administration that kind of approach to pardons, nor are you going to see in our administration the approach to making policy by tweets.”
Both of those pledges turned out to be lies. For one, he made the aforementioned preemptive pardons on January 20th, citing his fears of Trump wanting to get “revenge” on figures like Liz Cheney, Dr. Fauci, and Gen. Milley as his reason. Further, he seemingly tried to make an amendment, the so-called Equal Rights Amendment, law by tweeting about it.
Commenting on those broken pledges, law professor and legal analyst Jonathan Turley said, “President Biden has pardoned Dr. Fauci, General Milley and members of the House Jan. 6 committee and their staff. With his declaration that the Equal Rights Amendment is suddenly part of the Constitution, it is the latest use of presidential powers as a type of performative art.”
In any case, Biden, ending his response to Tapper’s question, told him that he would not do those things, the pledge he just broke entirely, because he and President Trump have a very different way of approaching the justice system. He said, “You know, it’s just going to be a totally different way in which we approach the justice system.” Watch him here:
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In his statement on the pardons, Biden said, “In certain cases, some have even been threatened with criminal prosecutions, including General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, and the members and staff of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. 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.”
He later said, “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. Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong-and in fact have done the right thing-and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances.”
Getting to the end, he said, “That is why I am exercising my authority under the Constitution to pardon 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 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.”