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Joe Biden granted preemptive pardons to Anthony Fauci, Liz Cheney and Mark Milley in one of his final acts as US president.
The move comes as President-elect Donald Trump vowed to take revenge on a list of enemies upon his return to the White House on Monday.
Trump has threatened Fauci, the president’s former chief medical adviser, with legal action over his role in overseeing the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Milley, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has a long history of animosity with Trump, warning on the eve of last year’s election that he was a “fascist at heart.”
Cheney, a prominent Republican, campaigned against Trump in last year’s presidential election and served as vice chair of the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the Capitol.
Biden said he was pardoning members of Congress and staff who served on the committee as well as police officers who testified about it.
“Alarmingly, public officials have been subjected to constant threats and intimidation for faithfully carrying out their duties,” Biden said in a statement.
This is a developing story
