“I Believe In The Rule Of Law, But…” – Biden Pre-Emptively Pardons Fauci, Schiff, Cheney, Milley, & Family Members

Update (1145ET): As everyone sat in the Captol Rotunda ‘golf-clapping’ the inauguration of President Trump, President Biden snuck in a last minute pre-emptive pardon for his family members

And just like that, he was gone…

Easiest way to get rich: always bet on crime…

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Just as many suspected would happen…

…in these flailing hours of Biden’s presidency, he has issued a large-scale pre-emptive pardon for his various NeverTrump henchmen (and henchwomen) that have done his (or his puppet master’s) bidding for the past four years.

As AP reports, it’s customary for a president to grant clemency at the end of his term, but those acts of mercy are usually offered to everyday Americans who have been convicted of crimes.

But Biden has used the power in the broadest and most untested way possible: to pardon those who have not even been investigated yet.

And with the acceptance comes a tacit admission of guilt or wrongdoing, even though those who have been pardoned have not been formally accused of any crimes.

Here’s Biden in Dec 2020 to explain why he would NEVER do pre-emptive pardons…

And here’s Chuck Schumer…

Here is the full statement (emphasis ours)…

Our nation relies on dedicated, selfless public servants every day. They are the lifeblood of our democracy.

Yet alarmingly, public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties.

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.

General Milley served our nation for more than 40 years, serving in multiple command and leadership posts and deploying to some of the most dangerous parts of the world to protect and defend democracy. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he guided our Armed Forces through complex global security threats and strengthened our existing alliances while forging new ones.

For more than half a century. Dr. Fauci served our country. He saved countless lives by managing the government’s response to pressing health crises, including HIV/AIDS, as well as the Ebola and Zika viruses. During his tenure as my Chief Medical Advisor, he helped the country tackle a once-in-a-century pandemic. The United States is safer and healthier because of him.

On January 6, 2021, American democracy was tested when a mob of insurrectionists attacked the Capitol in an attempt to overturn a fair and free election by force and violence. In light of the significance of that day. Congress established the bipartisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol to investigate and report upon the facts, circumstances, and causes of the insurrection. The Select Committee fulfilled this mission with integrity and a commitment to discovering the truth. Rather than accept accountability, those who perpetrated the January 6th attack have taken every opportunity to undermine and intimidate those who participated in the Select Committee in an attempt to rewrite history, erase the stain of January 6th for partisan gain, and seek revenge, including by threatening criminal prosecutions.

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.

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.

Finally, it is ironic that all these anti-Trump establishment types would be pre-emptively pardoned on the day of Trump’s greatest victory.

Milley was relieved:

“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,” Milley said.

“I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety.”

While most will be breathing a sigh of relief, it will be interesting to see what Kinzinger does.

“As soon as you take a pardon, it looks like you are guilty of something,” former Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois who served on the Jan. 6 committee along with Ms. Cheney, said on CNN this month.

“I am guilty of nothing besides bringing the truth to the American people and, in the process, embarrassing Donald Trump. Because for 187 minutes, he sat there and did absolutely nothing and showed how weak and scared he truly was,” he added, referring to the former president’s inaction during the attack on Jan. 6.

“So no, I don’t want it,” he said of the pardon.

And then there’s Adam Schiff:

“It would be the wrong precedent to set,” Senator Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, who led the prosecution during Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial, said on CNN this month.

“I don’t want to see each president hereafter on their way out the door giving a broad category of pardons to members of their administration.”

We’ll see!

Some of Biden’s apologists were pissed at not getting a pardon…

Condemnation of the move began to pour in almost immediately. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., blasted Biden’s legacy minutes after the order dropped.

“The guy who claimed he would ‘protect norms’ continues to bulldoze them and the Constitution until the bitter end. Biden truly is one of the worst Presidents in American history and will only be remembered as the guy between Trump’s two terms,” Schmitt wrote on X.

Legally speaking…

Polymarket traders had called this one…

How do we feel about this?

Biden has set the presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued; he announced on Friday he would commuting the sentences of almost 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. He previously announced he was commuting the sentences of 37 of the 40 people on federal death row.

The New York Times seems cognitively dissonant once again…

One final thought…

Did we just turn the ‘banana republic’ dial to ’11’?