On his way out of the White House on Jan. 20, Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon for, among others, his chief medical advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci. The week before, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) took action that will help the nation recover from Dr.

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.

President Biden said the pardons are not an "acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing" but rather protect individuals from "unjustified and politically motivated prosectutions."