Biden pre-emptively pardons all those involved in probing & testifying about 2021 US Capitol riots

CAPE TOWN - In the final hours of his presidency, outgoing US President Joe Biden has used his executive powers to pre-emptively pardon all those involved in probing and testifying about the 2021 riots on Capitol Hill.

He said he was doing it to protect them in the event his successor, Donald Trump, attempts to settle scores for the prosecutions of his supporters who stormed the building after he lost the 2021 elections.

Biden's successor and incoming deputy, vice president JD Vance, attended a church service ahead of their inauguration on Monday.

Besides the members of the 6 January select committee, others pardoned by Biden's final stroke of the presidential pen, include retired army general and chair of the joint chiefs of staff, Mark Milley.

Milley last year called Trump a fascist to the core.

Biden has also issued a pardon for the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Doctor Anthony Fauci, who led the country's COVID-19 response and regularly clashed with Trump over the handling of the pandemic.

In a statement, Biden said granting the pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgement of wrongdoing on the part of any individual nor as an admission of guilt for any offence.

Rather, Biden said, he wanted to protect them from political retribution, saying baseless and politically motivation investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety and financial security of targeted individuals and their families.

The pardons extend to all the UC Capitol and DC Metropolitan police officers who testified about the riots before the select committee.

Biden said the country owed these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to the country.