California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff is considering rejecting a pardon that former President Joe Biden issued to all the people involved in the Congressional investigation into the January 6 riot, including himself.
During an interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Schiff spoke about potential “blowback” from accepting a pardon because he spent years claiming — when President Donald Trump was serving in his first term — that accepting a pardon was an “admission of guilt.
“And of course President Biden did issue pardons to members of the January 6th Committee. You were on the January 6th Committee. It came after President Trump said that he thought the entire January 6th Committee should go to jail. What’s interesting, Senator, you had been quite vocal. You didn’t want President Biden to give you a pardon. You went so far as to convey that to the White House. So, what are you going to do about the fact that you’ve now been given a pardon? Are you going to accept it, or are you planning to look for some type of legal recourse to reject it?” Welker asked Schiff.
“We’re looking at it. I’m not sure there’s much to be done given that it went to the whole committee. This is also, I think, unprecedented. You know, in the first instance it was a result of the president threatening – wrongfully threatening to go after people who oversee this misconduct in a legitimate committee process. Nevertheless, we’ll have to look at this as a committee to see if there’s anything to be done,” Schiff responded.
“What does that mean, you’re going to ‘look at it’? Does that mean that you’ll make a decision collectively about whether to accept these pardons?” Welker asked.
Schiff responded: “We have tried to operate together as a committee. And I think the law is unclear because this is, frankly, uncharted territory, whether pardons of this nature are like a law in which you’re powerless to say yea or nay, or there’s something different.”
“It is quite murky. But it sounds like what you’re saying is, ‘We’ll look at it,’ but most likely, you’re going to have to accept this pardon whether you like it or not,” Welker said.
“It may not be actionable one way or another unless there is actually some kind of bogus effort to prosecute the committee,” Schiff responded.
In a round of last-minute pardons aimed at shielding allies from potential reprisals by President-elect Donald Trump, President Joe Biden granted clemency to a select group of individuals—but the move is not without complications for the recipients.
Former Wyoming Republican congresswoman and Jan. 6 Committee co-chair Liz Cheney and Dr. Anthony Fauci were among the limited list of pardon recipients, a gesture Biden’s aides say was intended to preempt acts of vengeance by Trump or his incoming administration.
However, legal experts were quick to point out that the pardons would not exempt either individual from having to testify under oath if subpoenaed.
Federal litigation attorney Jesse Binnall pointed out that Biden’s pardons do not shield Cheney Fauci from consequences if they lie under oath, should the GOP-controlled Congress subpoena them to testify. In his words, the pardons could be “great news” for anyone seeking to see the two prosecuted.
“The pardons are 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,” Binnall wrote on X, before dropping another truth bomb.
“And let’s just be realistic. Most of these disgusting individuals would probably have to be charged in Washington, DC, which doesn’t convict partisan leftists,” Binnall, also a former attorney for President Donald Trump, wrote.
