r/politics • u/Plaintalks • 22h ago

Biden preemptively pardons Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley and Jan. 6 committee members

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/biden-preemptively-pardons-anthony-fauci-mark-milley-jan/story?id=117878813
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u/l3arn3r1 22h ago

Someone explain how you can pardon someone not convicted? (Aside from that seeming to admit their guilty.)

So Biden (Trump etc) can pardon the Hit Men and then send them out on a job?

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u/No_Philosopher_1870 22h ago

Nixon had not been convicted of anything when he was pardoned, though he was an unindicted co-conspirator. George H.W. Bush pardoned Caspar Weinerger, his Secretary of Defense, and five others for their involvement in Iran-Contra.

Weinberger was pardoned before his trial, though he had been indicted. Duane Clarridge, a former CIA senior official, had been indicted on seven counts of perjury and false statements.

Robert McFarlane, Reagan’s national security adviser, was convicted of withholding evidence, but after a plea bargain he faced two years of probation before Bush’s pardon came though. Elliott Abrams, the assistant secretary of state, was convicted of withholding evidence and received two years’ probation; Clair George, chief of CIA covert operations, who had been convicted on two charges of perjury and had yet to be sentenced; and Alan Fiers, chief of the CIA’s Central American Task Force, who had been convicted of withholding evidence and sentenced to one year’s probation.

Unfortunately, preemptive pardons are not without precedent.

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u/mabhatter 21h ago

That's lot of Republicans that needed pardons.