The heads of the Jan. 6 committee say they're grateful for the decision by President Joe Biden to pardon them “not for breaking the law but for upholding it.”

Joe Biden has issued preemptive pardons to Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley and members of the Jan. 6 House committee just hours before Donald Trump’s inauguration. Biden made the move to guard against possible “revenge” from Trump’s administration,

Mark Milley's portrait as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was taken down from the Pentagon hallway where all of the paintings of the previous chairmen are located.

Retired Gen. Mark Milley has expressed his gratitude to President Joe Biden for issuing him a pardon, saying the move alleviates his concerns over potential "retribution" by the incoming Trump administration.

It was just moments before Joe Biden's presidential term ended when he announced pardons for his siblings and their spouses.

A swath of high-profile Democrats warned President Biden against issuing preemptive and blanket pardons to those seen as Trump's political foes before pardoning Fauci and Milley.

After the pardons were announced, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — both Republicans — posted to X claiming that issuing pardons to Fauci, Milley and others implied they were guilty of a crime, as did other right-leaning accounts on the platform.

The extraordinary actions by the outgoing president reflect America’s tensions as a successor takes office who has said his opponents should be jailed.