Donald Trump said President Joe Biden's pardons for Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the House Jan. 6 select committee are "disgraceful."
Biden issued the pardons in the final hours of his presidency.
Little more than two hours before Trump was to be sworn in as president, NBC News "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker took to social media to say the president-elect texted her with his reaction to the pardons.
"NEW: President-elect Trump texted me his reaction to President Biden's preemptive pardons of the Jan. 6 committee and witnesses, Anthony Fauci and Mark Milley," Welker posted on X. "It is disgraceful. Many are guilty of MAJOR CRIMES! DJT."
Biden issued the pardons for Fauci, Milley and Jan. 6 committee members as Trump and fellow Republicans have vowed to probe actions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol.
"The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense," Biden said in a statement posted on the White House website. "Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country."
Fauci was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health for nearly 40 years, including during Trump's term in office and later served as Biden’s chief medical adviser until his retirement in 2022.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has said his panel will issue subpoenas for documents concerning the origins of the virus and connections Fauci and others at NIH had in funding research in China.
Milley is the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He called Trump a fascist and detailed Trump’s conduct around the Jan. 6 attack. Trump has lashed out at Milley over calls he made to his Chinese counterpart to say he would warn Beijing officials before the U.S. launched an attack.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Jan. 6 panel consisted of Democrats and two anti-Trump Republicans, then-Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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