California's Adam Schiff gets a last-minute pardon from President Joe Biden

David Lightman, McClatchy Washington Bureau on Jan 20, 2025

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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday issued preemptive pardons to Sen. Adam Schiff and other members of Congress and their staff who had investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots.

Schiff, D-Calif., was an outspoken House member at the time and part of the committee that probed the insurrection. Among those also pardoned from the committee were former Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, and Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.

Schiff did not want the pardon.

“I don’t think a preemptive pardon makes sense,” he told The Sacramento Bee last year.

“I think this is frankly so implausible as not to be worthy of much consideration. I would urge the president not to do that. I think it would seem defensive and unnecessary,” he said.

Schiff said Monday that he was “extremely proud of the difficult, but necessary, work of the January 6th Committee.” He said it tried to “hold to account a president who attempted to use violence to overturn a free and fair election. No effort to rewrite history will absolve those responsible for assaulting the Capitol and interfering with the peaceful transfer of power.”

Schiff reiterated his earlier view that the pardon to committee members was not necessary and “because of the precedent it establishes, unwise. “

But, he added, “I certainly understand why President Biden believed he needed to take this step in light of the persistent and baseless threats issued by Donald Trump and individuals who are now some of his law enforcement nominees.”

Biden left office at noon eastern time Monday. In the pre-dawn hours, he also issued pardons to retired Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and staff from the House committee.

“These public servants have served our nation with honor and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions,” Biden said.

“Rather than accept accountability, those who perpetrated the January 6th attack have taken every opportunity to undermine and intimidate those who participated in the Select Committee in an attempt to rewrite history, erase the stain of January 6th for partisan gain, and seek revenge, including by threatening criminal prosecutions,” Biden said.

Schiff, elected to the Senate in November, was a congressman from the Los Angeles area in the House since 2001.

Donald Trump, who was sworn in Monday as president, has been a persistent Schiff critic, calling him calling him a “sleazebag” and “shifty,” and a “lunatic” who’s an “enemy from within.”

Schiff was the lead prosecutor in Trump’s 2020 impeachment trial, and has been an outspoken critic of Trump for years.

He has not been charged with any crime, and the pardon would ensure he would be immune from any such charges.