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President Joe Biden pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol to protect them from being potential "revenge" targets of President-elect Donald Trump's administration during the final hours of his own presidency, the New York Post reports.
Biden's decision came after Trump publicly warned of an enemies list noting those who he believed had crossed him in the past, including individuals who attempted to hold him accountable for attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden, as well as his actions that led to his supporters storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Fauci served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health for nearly 40 years and became a target of Trump's staunchest supporters during the COVID-19 pandemic as he refused to back unfounded claims made by the then-president while coordinating the national response to the coronavirus and later serving as chief medical adviser for the Biden administration until his retirement in 2022.
Milley, a retired U.S. Army general, served as the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 2019 to September 2023 and detailed Trump's conduct around the Jan. 6 insurrection, publicly calling him a fascist. Trump, who previously served as the 45th president, will take office on Monday (January 20), becoming the first president since Grover Cleveland to serve two non-consecutive terms.