President Joe Biden’s senior aides are reportedly discussing potential preemptive pardons before President-elect Donald Trump’s promised “retribution” once taking office on Jan. 20.
Trump has threatened legal action against many of his political opponents, from former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney to Sen.-elect Adam Schiff of California. It’s unclear whether Trump would follow through on his campaign rhetoric, but his pick of Kash Patel to direct the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in addition to the threats, has caused some Democrats to advocate for the pre-pardons.
Other Democrats, however, have said that preemptive pardons aren’t necessary and could set a dangerous precedent, in addition to legal concerns raised by experts. Many also disapprove of Biden going back on his word when he recently pardoned his son, Hunter Biden.
Here is a look at who is being considered for a pre-emptive pardon:
Liz Cheney
Trump has said that Cheney, once the highest-ranking Republican woman in the House of Representatives, and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, should “go to jail” for her role on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
The former congresswoman was one of ten House Republicans to vote to impeach Trump on allegations that he sparked the violence of that day and claimed that the committee sat on evidence related to the insurrection.
“She should go to Jail along with the rest of the Unselect Committee!” Trump said in one Truth Social post in March.
“SHE SHOULD BE PROSECUTED FOR WHAT SHE HAS DONE TO OUR COUNTRY!” wrote the president-elect on social media.
Dr. Anthony Fauci
Republican lawmakers have frequently attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci for his work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During a contentious hearing over the COVID-19 response in June, Republicans accused him of helping fund Chinese government efforts to create the virus, hiding medical data about the pandemic, and making up U.S. guidelines, all of which Fauci said was not true.
At the same hearing, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., refused to call Fauci “doctor” and said he “deserves to be in prison” before being escorted out of the chamber.
Fauci said that he and his family have received many threats throughout the pandemic, including death threats.
Gen. Mark Milley
Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, said that he would be “on the top of the list” for people Trump would start “throwing in jail” in a profile in The Atlantic.
Trump has accused Milley of treason and suggested that he should be executed.
“This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in September of 2023 of Milley’s calls to his Chinese counterpart in 2021, assuring him that the U.S. had no intentions of launching an attack. Milley said he was performing his duties to avoid conflict with China.
Following the post, Milley said he would take “adequate safety precautions” to ensure his and his family’s safety.
Adam Schiff
Schiff, a Democrat and the former chair of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, often claimed during the former president’s first term that his campaign had colluded with Russia. Trump called Schiff “an enemy” for his leading role during Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.
“These are bad people. We have a lot of bad people. But when you look at ‘Shifty Schiff’ and some of the others, yeah, they are, to me, the enemy from within,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News in October.
Schiff recently won election to the U.S. Senate and will begin his term in January.
