Former President Joe Biden's last-minute pardons for several individuals takes away their rights to invoke the Fifth Amendment if subpoenaed to testify before Congress in the future, reported Newsweek.
Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and individuals who served on and testified before the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol attack were granted clemency Monday in one of Biden's final acts as president.
The decision came after now-President Donald Trump had warned of an enemies list filled with those who have crossed him politically or sought to hold him accountable for his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss and his role in the Capitol attack four years ago. Trump has selected Cabinet nominees who backed his election lies and who have pledged to punish those involved in efforts to investigate him.
Biden also granted pardons to five members of his family.
"My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics," Biden said in his last statement as president. "Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end."
He pardoned his brother James Biden and his wife, Sara Biden, his sister, Valerie Biden Owens and her husband, John Owens and his brother, Francis Biden.
Kimberly Wehle, professor of law at the University of Baltimore, told Newsweek the pardons "do not impact the Fifth Amendment right to self-incrimination unless they are accepted by the recipient, and there is no legal deadline for doing so."
"If there is an acceptance of a pardon and the recipient is called to testify, it is accurate that they cannot successfully invoke the Fifth Amendment on matters covered by the pardon because there would be no threat of incrimination," she added.
Jesse Binnall, a lawyer for Trump, in a post on X celebrated the pardons, saying they were "actually great news."
"No one who was just pardoned will be able to refuse to testify in a civil, criminal, or congressional proceeding based upon the 5th Amendment.
"And let's just be realistic. Most of these disgusting individuals would probably have to be charged in Washington, D.C, which doesn't convict partisan leftists."
Still, those pardoned are relieved from "the fear and burden of a federal criminal prosecution," criminal-defense lawyer Randy Zelin told Newsweek.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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