US President Joe Biden issued pre-emptive pardons on Monday for people Republican successor Donald Trump has targeted for retaliation, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley and former White House chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci.
The pardon also covers all lawmakers who served on the congressional select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters, and police officers who testified before it.
Tump, who will return to the presidency later Monday, has repeatedly called for the prosecution of his perceived enemies since winning the White House in November.
Biden praised public servants as the "lifeblood of our democracy." Without mentioning Trump, he expressed alarm that some of them were subjected to threats and intimidation for doing their job.
"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," Biden said in a statement.
Trump in December backed a call for the FBI to investigate fellow Republican Liz Cheney over her role in leading Congress's probe of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the US Capitol by his supporters.
Fauci often clashed with Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic and his supporters have continued to attack the former senior health official.
Milley: Trump a fascist
Milley was quoted in the book "War" by Bob Woodward, which was published last month, calling Trump "fascist to the core" and Trump's allies have targeted him for perceived disloyalty to the former president.
Reuters reported in November that the Trump transition team was drawing up a list of military officers seen as connected to Milley to be fired.
Milley said on Monday he was "deeply grateful" for President Joe Biden's pre-emptive pardon.
"My family and I are deeply grateful for the President’s action today," Milley said in a statement.
"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," he added.
Biden pardons family
US President Joe Biden on Monday pardoned five members of his family, saying he wanted to prevent them from being targeted by "baseless and politically motivated investigations."
Those pardoned are his two brothers James and Francis. Also on the list are Sara, the wife of James Biden, Biden's sister Valerie and her husband John.
In a statement, Biden also commuted the life sentence imposed on Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who has served nearly five decades in federal prison for the 1975 killings of two FBI agents. Peltier will serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement.