President Joe Biden pardoned his siblings and their spouses, along with Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol hours before President-elect Donald Trump was sworn into office.

“My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end,” Biden said in a statement.

His siblings and their spouses include Valerie Biden Owens and John Owens, Francis Biden and James Biden’s wife, Sara Jones Biden.

The announcement of Fauci, Milley and the House committee’s pardons comes after Trump vowed to punish those he saw as opposed to his first presidency.

“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden said in a statement. “Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.

“These are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing,” Biden said, adding that “Even when individuals have done nothing wrong — and in fact have done the right thing — and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances.”

Fauci was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute for Health during the COVID-19 pandemic and clashed with Trump during his first presidency. He was blamed for mask mandates and accused of infringing on people’s rights.

Mark Milley is former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who called Trump a fascist and detailed Trump’s conduct around the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Rep. Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the committee were also included in the preemptive pardon.

Cheney received the Presidential Citizens Medal in early January in part for her work on the House Select Committee.

“Donald Trump is doing everything he can to try to get people to forget about what he did on Jan. 6,” she said in October. “When you think about that level of instability, that level of erratic decision making, the misogyny, that’s not someone that you can trust with the power of the Oval Office.”

“I would just remind people, if you’re at all concerned, you can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody.”

Biden has set the presidential record for most individual pardons and commutations issued; he announced on Friday he would commute the sentences of almost 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses.

In early December, Biden pardoned his son, Hunter, after pledging he would not pardon him. The president was criticized for the pardon because it covered more than just his son’s gun and tax convictions. It covered other “offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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