NPR: Jan. 6 committee member Jamie Raskin calls Biden pardon 'a sign of our strange times'

[Dennis Donovan]

NPR - Jan. 6 committee member Jamie Raskin calls Biden pardon 'a sign of our strange times'

Updated January 20, 20252:21 PM ET
By Leila Fadel, Destinee Adams



In the final hours of his presidency, former President Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons for members and staff of the bipartisan Jan. 6 Select Committee that investigated the attack on the U.S. Capitol four years ago.

The pardons extended to the capitol police officers who testified, along with officials who served under President Donald Trump but became vocal critics, including retired Gen. Mark Milley, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Chief Medical Advisor to the president.

Biden says even though they did nothing wrong and would eventually be exonerated of wrongdoing, he took the extraordinary step to protect these individuals from the next president's public vow of retribution.

Also on that pardon list is Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who serves as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee and was a member of the Jan. 6 Select Committee. Hours before Trump's inauguration, he joined Morning Edition and said he is grappling with the news of his pardon.

"It's a sign of our strange times that public officials and public servants have to be pardoned just for doing their jobs and upholding their oath of office and upholding the law," Raskin said.

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