Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-California, right, speak with Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its first public hearing to reveal the findings of a year-long investigation, at the Capitol in Washington, on June 9, 2022. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
Updated 1:42 p.m. Monday
As President Biden leaves the Oval Office on Monday, three California lawmakers were among those he pardoned in an attempt to protect them from retribution for their involvement in the bipartisan investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The preemptive pardon covers Sen. Adam Schiff, South Bay Rep. Zoe Lofgren and San Bernardino Rep. Pete Aguilar — all Democrats — as well as committee staff and police officers who testified.
In a joint statement from the nine-member committee, the lawmakers said they were pardoned “not for breaking the law but for upholding it.”
“We and our families have been continuously targeted not only with harassment, lies and threats of criminal violence, but also with specific threats of criminal prosecution and imprisonment by members of the incoming administration, simply for doing our jobs and upholding our oaths of office,” the statement reads.
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While none of the lawmakers have been accused of specific crimes, President Trump has said in recent weeks that Jan. 6 committee members “should go to jail.”
In one of Biden’s last acts as president, he also pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and retired Gen. Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Both Biden’s announcement and the committee’s response note the “exceptional circumstances” that they believe require the extraordinary step of preemptively pardoning public officials to shield them from politically motivated prosecution.
President Joe Biden, center, with Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Sec. of State Anthony Blinken, right, speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House on the announcement of a ceasefire deal in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages after more than 15 months of war, on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP Photo)
“I cannot in good conscience do nothing. Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families,” Biden said in his statement. “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.”
In December, Lofgren told KQED she was not requesting a pardon from Biden after Trump had told NBC’s Meet the Press that the committee members should be jailed.
“I believe in the Constitution. And I think we have a judicial branch that will make sure that the Constitution is enforced on that,” Lofgren said.
While Lofgren said the decision was Biden’s to make, Schiff said in a solo statement Monday that he believed the pardon was “unnecessary” and “unwise,” but said he understood why Biden felt he needed to issue it.
Schiff told KQED last month that he didn’t like the precedent that pardons for the committee would set.
“I just don’t like the precedent of it,” he said. “I didn’t like it when Trump talked about doing that on his way out. And I don’t favor President Biden doing it either.”
Both expressed that members of the committee had been fulfilling their duties in Congress when they investigated the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which took place on Jan. 6, 2021, while lawmakers were certifying the results of the 2020 election.
The nine members of the House of Representatives investigated the role Trump and close allies were believed to have played in inciting the violence, and ultimately referred Trump to the Department of Justice to face legal charges. A case brought by the department was thrown out after Trump’s election victory due to DOJ policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Throughout the investigation, Trump allies Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro were sentenced to four months in prison for refusing to testify, and Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R–Bakersfield), Jim Jordan (R–Ohio), Andy Biggs (R–Ariz.), and Scott Perry (R–Pa.) were referred to the House Ethics Committee.
“We stand by [the work we did],” Schiff said in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash earlier this month. “We feel we have the protection of the Speech and Debate Clause. So, I — my own feeling is, let’s just avoid this kind of broad precedent.”
Still, the statement on behalf of the whole committee, issued by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D–Miss.) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R–Wyo.) expressed gratitude for the pardon.
“These are indeed ‘extraordinary circumstances’ when public servants are pardoned to prevent false prosecution by the government for having worked faithfully as Members of Congress to expose the facts of a months-long criminal effort to override the will of the voters after the 2020 elections, including by inciting a violent insurrection to thwart the peaceful transfer of power,” it reads. “Such a prosecution would be ordered and conducted by persons who led this unprecedented attack on our constitutional system.”
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