Former President Joe Biden’s decision to issue preemptive pardons to Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired General Mark Milley and members of the congressional committee that investigated the January 6 Capitol attack triggered intense political controversy after Donald Trump returned to office.
Biden announced the pardons during his final hours as president on January 20, 2025.
Liz Cheney was covered as a former member of the January 6 committee, alongside other lawmakers, committee staff members and police officers who testified during the investigation.
Biden said the pardons were intended to protect public officials from politically motivated investigations and prosecutions.
He stressed that receiving a pardon should not be interpreted as an admission that any of the recipients had committed a crime.
Trump sharply criticized the decision and later claimed that some of Biden’s pardons were invalid because they had allegedly been signed using an autopen. However, presidential pardons have historically not required a handwritten signature, and legal experts said a succeeding president cannot simply cancel a predecessor’s pardons without a valid legal basis.
Fauci received a broad pardon covering potential federal offenses connected to his government service between January 1, 2014, and January 19, 2025. The official clemency document described it as a full and unconditional pardon.
The controversy intensified partisan divisions in Washington. Trump’s supporters argued that the pardons raised questions about accountability, while Biden’s defenders said they were necessary because the recipients had repeatedly faced threats of retaliation.
Despite sensational social-media headlines claiming that the pardons had “backfired,” no court had declared the pardons invalid at the time the controversy began. Any attempt to challenge their legality would likely require formal legal proceedings rather than a presidential announcement alone.
