Who is Gen. Mark Milley? Why Joe Biden pardoned him ahead of Trump inauguration
Ahead of President-elect Donald Trump, President Joe Biden issued blanket preemptive pardons on Monday for several of Trump's top political foes, including one for Massachusetts's native retired Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Biden also issued pardons for Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; and the lawmakers and staffers from the House committee that investigated the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021including former GOP Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois; and Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.
"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 in a statement.
Milley said he was "deeply grateful" to Biden.
"My family and I are deeply grateful for the President's action today," Milley said in a statement to USA Today provided by a spokesperson. "After forty-three years of faithful service in uniform to our Nation, protecting and defending the Constitution, I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights."
Several leaders in the Democratic party, including Sen. Ed Markey, have been pushing Biden to take this step in recent weeks. But there are legal questions, according to experts, about pre-pardoning people who didn't haven't been charged with a crime and concerns about how this might allow for future leaders to take similar actions.
Why did Biden pardon Gen. Mark Milley?
Trump has accused Milley of treason and appeared to suggested he should be executed.
“This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in September 2023 of Milley’s calls to his Chinese counterpart in 2021 assuring him that the U.S. had no intentions of launching an attack. Milley said he was performing his duties to avoid conflict with China.
After the post, Milley said he would take “adequate safety precautions” to ensure his and his family’s safety.
“We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator," Milley said in his retirement speech at Joint Base Myer-Henderson in September 2023. "We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”
Biden said of everyone being pardoned that they've done "nothing wrong."
"Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families," Biden said. "Even when individuals have done nothing wrong − and in fact have done the right thing −and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances."
Who is Mark Milley?
Milley was born in Winchester, Massachusetts, and attended Belmont Hill School, where he played hockey. He graduated from Princeton University in 1980, where he received his commission from Army ROTC. His education also includes a master's degree in international relations from Columbia University and one from the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island in national security and strategic studies. He is also a graduate of the MIT Seminar XXI National Security Studies Program, according to U.S. Department of Defense biography.
Milley, a former Green Beret, served as the 20th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation's highest-ranking military officer, and the principal military advisor to the President, Secretary of Defense, and National Security Council. He became the Chariman on Oct. 1, 2019 and retired Sept. 29, 2023.
Prior to becoming Chairman, Milley served as the 39th Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army.
Milley's operational deployments include "Multi-National Force and Observers Task Force, Sinai, Egypt; Operation JUST CAUSE, Panama; Operation UPHOLD DEMOCRACY, Haiti; Operation JOINT FORGE, Bosnia-Herzegovina; Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, Iraq; and three tours during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, Afghanistan," according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
He has been married to his wife, Hollyanne, for more than 38 years and the have two children together.