(TNND) — In his last hours as president, Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons to his family members, Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, former Rep. Liz Cheney and others he feared could be “targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions” under the incoming Donald Trump administration.

“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” Biden said in a Monday morning statement. “But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing. Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families.”

Milley and Fauci expressed their gratitude to Biden for their preemptive pardons, which they and Biden said were not an acknowledgment of any wrongdoing.

“I have done nothing wrong. Certainly nothing criminal. No grounds at all,” Fauci told CNN anchor Jim Acosta.

Fauci, who was the face of the government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been “villainized by a lot of people on the right,” said Todd Belt, the Political Management program director at George Washington University.

“I think the reason that Biden is doing this is because he’s worried about sort of a retribution tour for Trump’s second term,” Belt said.

Milley, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump’s first term, spoke out against Trump during the 2024 election. The retired general called Trump a “fascist” in a warning to voters.

Biden pardoned Cheney and other lawmakers who were part of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

And later in the morning, just minutes before Trump was sworn in as the next president, Biden’s White House announced preemptive pardons for Biden’s siblings and their spouses.

“My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end,” Biden said in a statement.

Biden previously pardoned his son, Hunter. But Hunter Biden’s pardon was not preemptive, as he was convicted on gun and tax charges.

Biden set the record for pardons and commutations in the final days of his presidency.

Last week, Biden announced he was commuting the sentences of almost 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses.

“That’s what really ran up the score,” Belt said.

Trump used his clemency power sparingly in his first term, according to analysis published by the Pew Research Center.

Trump granted 237 acts of clemency during his first term, which was the fewest since 1900 with two exceptions: George W. and George H.W. Bush.

Belt said preemptive pardons aren’t common, but what Biden did also isn’t unprecedented.

Gerald Ford preemptively pardoned Richard Nixon amid the Watergate scandal.

And Jimmy Carter preemptively pardoned Vietnam War draft dodgers.

“Some people were wondering whether or not (Biden) would do that,” Belt said. “I don’t think he would have done it if Donald Trump was not the incoming president, and if he had felt that they didn’t need it. I don’t think that he was given any sort of assurances from the incoming administration that they would not weaponize the DOJ against these people, and that (he thought) they needed this sort of suit of armor for protection.”

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Belt said Biden’s preemptive pardons don’t set any kind of legal precedent for Trump to do the same. Presidents already had that power under the Constitution.

But it does give Trump some political cover if he moves to pardon Jan. 6 rioters en masse.

“It gives him sort of the, ‘Well, they did it too argument,’” Belt said.

And this might free Trump up to focus on the future rather than the past, Belt said.

“In an odd way, this actually gives Trump more of an incentive to focus on his policy agenda rather than his revenge tour,” Belt said.