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Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) criticized former President Joe Biden’s decision to grant preemptive pardons to members of the now-defunct House Jan. 6 Committee, calling it “unnecessary” and “unwise.”
The pardons, announced Monday as one of Biden’s final acts in office, covered all past members of the committee, its staff, and police officers who testified before the panel.
“I continue to believe that granting pardons to a committee that undertook such important work to uphold the law was unnecessary,” Schiff said in a statement.
“Because of the precedent it establishes, it was also unwise. However, I understand why President Biden believed this step was necessary in light of persistent and baseless threats from Donald Trump and individuals who are now among his law enforcement nominees.”
The clemency, labeled as “full and unconditional,” applies to any offenses tied to the committee’s activities and is not limited to a specific timeframe. While presidential clemency at the end of a term is common, Biden’s move to pardon individuals who have not faced investigation pushes the limits of the pardon power.
The decision follows Trump’s repeated vows to prosecute his perceived enemies if re-elected, including members of the Jan. 6 Committee, whom he once said “should go to jail.”
The nine-member bipartisan committee, chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and vice-chaired by former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), investigated the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack and efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Other members included then-Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Elaine Luria (D-Va.), Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), and current Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
In a joint statement, Thompson and Cheney defended the pardons as necessary to protect public servants from unjust persecution. “These are extraordinary circumstances when public servants are pardoned not for breaking the law but for upholding it,” they wrote.
“We worked faithfully as Members of Congress to expose the facts of a months-long criminal effort to override the will of voters after the 2020 elections, including inciting a violent insurrection to thwart the peaceful transfer of power.”
The pardons are part of a broader clemency effort by Biden, which also included Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, and several of Biden’s family members.
Biden insisted the pardons were not admissions of wrongdoing, though his Justice Department has noted that accepting a pardon implies acknowledgment of guilt.
Biden’s controversial decision comes amid a politically charged climate as Trump’s second term begins, with the former president expected to issue his own pardons for many January 6 defendants in the coming days.
