Conservatives on social media recently suggested that Sen. Adam Schiff’s (D-CA) preemptive pardon from former President Joe Biden could backfire. In the final hours of Joe Biden’s presidency, he pardoned many political allies, such as Dr. Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and the former House January 6 Committee, which Schiff served on.
The discussion began after Schiff took to X on Tuesday, criticizing the Trump administration for giving full pardons to roughly 1,500 January 6 protestors. The senator shared footage of Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi maintaining that she would review every single case before issuing pardons. Despite Bondi not yet being confirmed, Schiff argued that there was “no review” and “no accountability.”
Responding to this statement from Schiff, the popular MAGA account on X wrote, “Schiff didn’t want pardons issued on J6ers but got one himself for lying on the J6ers Raise your hand ✋ if you want Congress to force Adam Schiff to testify under oath, now that he can’t plead the 5th…. if he lies, he goes to prison for (5) yrs.” Commentators have quickly pointed out that the pardons nullify one’s Fifth Amendment right to protect oneself from self-incriminating testimony if subpoenaed by Congress.
However, professor of law at the University of Baltimore, Kimberly Wehle, pointed out this would only occur if the recipients accepted the pardons. “The pardons do not impact the Fifth Amendment right to self-incrimination unless they are accepted by the recipient,” Wehle explained to Newsweek, “and there is no legal deadline for doing so.” She added, “If there is an acceptance of a pardon and the recipient is called to testify, it is accurate that they cannot successfully invoke the Fifth Amendment on matters covered by the pardon because there would be no threat of incrimination.”
Schiff even weighed in on the pardon, noting that it was “unnecessary” and “unwise” to grant them in the first place. “I continue to believe that the grant of pardons to a committee that undertook such important work to uphold the law was unnecessary, and because of the precedent it establishes, unwise,” Schiff said. “But I certainly understand why President Biden believed he needed to take this step in light of the persistent and baseless threats issued by Donald Trump and individuals who are now some of his law enforcement nominees.”
Other members of the January 6 Committee who received pardons, such as Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who chaired the committee, and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who served as second-in-command as vice chair, also reacted. In a joint statement posted to X, Thompson and Cheney maintained that the pardons were given to them not because they broke the law but “upheld it.”
“These are indeed ‘extraordinary circumstances’ when public servants are pardoned to prevent false prosecution by the government for having worked faithfully as Members of Congress to expose the facts of a months-long criminal effort to override the will of the voters after the 2020 elections, including by inciting a violent insurrection to thwart the peaceful transfer of power,” they said.
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Watch Trump call out Liz Cheney and the J6 Committee below: