By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WASHINGTON (Worthy News) – Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden moved just hours before leaving office on Monday to guard some of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s most high-profile adversaries against what he said was a promised campaign of “retribution” by issuing pre-emptive pardons to head off politically driven prosecutions.
Among those receiving the pardons were General Mark A. Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the longtime government scientist who has been questioned over his COVID measures and involvement in controversial virus development; and all the members of the bipartisan House committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, including former Representative Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming.
“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” Biden said in a statement.
“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,” he added.
“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,” Biden stressed.
It came as a setback for Republicans who have accused Dr. Fauci of lying to the U.S. Congress in denying that his agency funded “gain of function” research – the practicing of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential real-world impact – at a lab Wuhan, the Chinese city where the COVID-19 pandemic began
For years, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) gave grants to a New York nonprofit called EcoHealth Alliance and used some of the funds to work with a Chinese lab to study coronaviruses commonly carried by bats.
Milley reportedly fears being recalled to uniform and court-martialed by Trump for criticizing him.
Representative Cheney had similar concerns about being prosecuted.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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