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Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra warned of the impact of a preemptive presidential pardon for people like Dr. Anthony Fauci just hours after President Biden said in an interview that he was still considering it.
“It breaks my heart to think that we’re going to use the pardon process in a way that follows the whims of whoever’s in the White House,” said Becerra, who previously served as California’s attorney general before taking over your position at HHS. in an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday. Becerra noted that he was speaking from his legal background rather than his position in Biden’s cabinet.
“I think we should hold this power, which only a president has, in very high regard,” he continued. “Because otherwise it becomes pedestrian, and it’s used anywhere, and I don’t think it should be.”
President Biden and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra (AP Newsroom)
When the HHS secretary was asked directly if he meant the president should not pardon Fauci, who was Biden’s former chief medical adviser during the pandemic and served as director of the Institute National Director of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for several decades, Becerra declined to clarify. .
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“I’m not going to try to interpret what you’re hearing; I’m just telling you what I think,” he replied.
Becerra’s comments came hours after Biden’s last interview as president with a print publication, during which he said preemptive pardons for Trump’s political goals were still under consideration.
President-elect Trump’s nominees for FBI director and attorney general, Kash Patel and Pam Bondi, respectively, have previously indicated they favor using the Justice Department to go after people they believe unfairly targeted Trump.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress and some of Trump’s top transition advisers, such as Elon Musk, have argued that Fauci should be prosecuted for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is sworn in before testifying before a House subcommittee on the coronavirus pandemic on June 3, 2024, in Washington, DC (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Trump’s nominee to succeed Becerra, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said while running for president — before joining Trump’s team — that he would prosecute Fauci if he won the November election and its attorney general determined that crimes had been committed. on Fauci’s handling of the coronavirus. During the pandemic, Fauci was accused of working to evade public records laws and lying to Congress in apparent efforts to conceal the origins of the virus.
Democrats are split on whether Biden should offer preemptive pardons to public officials who could be Trump’s political targets.
“If we are serious about stopping Trump’s authoritarian ambitions, we must act decisively and use all the tools at our disposal. Norms and traditions alone will not stop: Trump has shown a and again that he is willing to ignore them in order to consolidate power and punish his opponents,” Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., said in a statement last month calling on Biden to issue a pardon general for Trump’s political enemies. “The time for cautious restraint is over. We must act urgently to curb these threats and prevent Trump from abusing his power.”
President Biden said he was considering preemptive pardons based on President-elect Trump’s nominees for key positions. (Getty Images)
Legal experts have said Biden has the authority to issue preemptive pardons, citing the precedent set by former President Gerald Ford when he granted a blanket pardon to Richard Nixon for any crime committed while in office, even though Nixon did not he had been charged with nothing after resigning. following the Watergate scandal.
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Fox News Digital reached out to HHS for comment, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
