President Biden and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra (AP Newsroom)
When the HHS secretary was asked directly if he meant that the president should not pardon Fauci, who was Biden's former chief medical adviser during the pandemic and served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for several decades, Becerra declined to clarify.
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"I won’t try to interpret what you’re hearing; I just told you what I think," he replied.
Becerra's comments came hours after Biden's final interview as president with a print publication, during which he said preemptive pardons for Trump's political targets were still under consideration.
President-elect Trump's nominees for director of the FBI and attorney general, Kash Patel and Pam Bondi, respectively, have previously indicated they are in favor of 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 over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Biden said he was considering preemptive pardons based on President-elect Trump's nominees for key spots. (Getty Images)
Legal experts have said that Biden has the authority to issue premptive pardons, citing precedent set by former President Gerald Ford when he granted a blanket pardon to Richard Nixon for any crimes committed while in office, even though Nixon had not been charged with anything 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.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bidens-hhs-secretary-warns-against-implications-preemptive-pardon-fauci-others