Pardons by Trump and Biden reveal distrust of each other and wobbly faith in criminal justice system

WASHINGTON (AP) — A day that began with the outgoing president's pardon of lawmakers and his own family ended with the incoming president's pardon of supporters who violently stormed the Capitol four years ago.

The clemency Monday by departing President Joe Biden and new President Donald Trump — one benefiting relatives and public servants not accused of criminal wrongdoing, the other aiding rioters convicted of violent felonies — are vastly different in scope, impact and their meaning for the rule of law.

But the remarkable flex of executive authority in a 12-hour span also shows the men's deeply rooted suspicion of one another, with both signaling to their supporters that the tall pillars of the criminal justice system — facts, evidence and law — could not be trusted as foundational principles in each other's administrations.

“It was a sad day for Lady Justice no matter which side of the political spectrum you're on,” said John Fishwick Jr., a former U.S. attorney in Virginia during the Obama administration. “In alternative ways, both Biden and Trump were sending the same message. Trump was saying it was a corrupt system the last four years, and Biden was saying it's about to be a corrupt system. And that's a horrible message.”

In pardoning his siblings and their spouses in one of his final actions in office, Biden said his family had been “subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics.” He said he had “no reason to believe these attacks will end," a similar rationale he cited when pardoning his son Hunter in December for tax and gun crimes despite having repeatedly pledged not to.

He also pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol — all considered potential targets of investigation in a Trump administration despite no public evidence of any criminal behavior. Trump's pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, has for instance singled out Fauci as someone deserving of investigation and prosecution over the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The clemency reached beyond those who might have reason to fear retribution under Trump. In a move that went against the explicit urging of the recently-departed FBI Director Christopher Wray and angered law enforcement, Biden commuted the sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who had been imprisoned for nearly half a century for the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.

Even as Biden said he believed in the rule of law and was “optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” he acknowledged that “exceptional circumstances” compelled him to act.

That wobbly faith in the criminal justice system under Trump's watch appears to mirror the American public's perspective.

About half of Americans are “not very” or “not at all” confident that the Justice Department, the FBI or the Supreme Court will act in a fair and nonpartisan manner during Trump’s second term. In each instance, roughly 3 in 10 are “somewhat” confident and about 2 in 10 are “extremely” or “very” confident, according to an AP-NORC poll from January.

While the outgoing Democratic resident was convinced his successor could not be trusted not to target his perceived adversaries, including his own relatives, the incoming Republican president seemed equally convinced the prior administration engaged in political persecution of his supporters.

Trump pardoned, commuted the prison sentences of or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. His action far exceeded the forecasts of other Trump administration officials, who suggested the clemency grants would be narrower.

The clemency wiped out the largest investigation in Justice Department history, the beneficiaries including members of the mob of Trump supporters who violently attacked police officers with weapons like flag poles, bats and bear spray, as well as leaders of far-right extremist groups convicted of failed plots to keep the Republican in power.

Trump has cast the rioters as “hostages” and “patriots” despite the breadth of evidence accumulated by prosecutors and has complained that the cases were politically motivated despite no evidence of any coordination between the Justice Department and the White House.

“That’s breathtaking. This is a man who does not believe in the rule of law. He believes he can do as he pleases. He’s made that clear for many years,” said Chris Edelson, an assistant American University professor specializing in presidential powers.

He said he did not fault Biden for the preemptive pardons, given Trump's warnings of reprisal.

“It would be a lie or at the very least misleading for President Biden to assure Americans that they can trust the system,” Edelson said.

Questions about faith in the rule of law have taken center stage as Trump looks for the Senate to confirm both Patel and his attorney general pick, Pam Bondi, who during her confirmation hearing last week told senators that she would not play politics while also suggesting that the Justice Department over the last four years had become weaponized.

For critics of the pardons like Fishwick, the former U.S. attorney, the clemency risks adding to the misguided public perception that the criminal justice system is “rigged.”

“I think both Biden and Trump were using the pardon power as part of political statements," Fishwick said, "and that's not how the Founding Fathers envisioned them being implemented by the president.”

Associated Press writer Linley Sanders contributed to this report.

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, right, listens during a briefing with senior military leaders in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - Retired Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appears before the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, left, and Washington Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges listen as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during opening statements during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Nov. 4, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Hunter Biden steps into a vehicle as he leaves federal court, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Los Angeles, after pleading guilty to federal tax charges. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)

File - President Joe Biden speaks at the International African American Museum in Charleston, S.C., Jan. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File )

Supporters of President Donald Trump stand with their flags in support of people convicted for their part in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol at the DC Central Detention Facility in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order pardoning about 1,500 defendants charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Further contacts between U.S. and Russian officials on achieving a proposed ceasefire in Ukraine are likely to follow a round of talks Monday, a Kremlin official said Tuesday, but no concrete plans have yet been made.

The American and Russian negotiators held talks throughout the day on Monday in the capital of Saudi Arabia to hammer out details on a partial pause in the 3-year-old war in Ukraine, a day after U.S. officials held separate talks in Riyadh with a team from Kyiv.

It has been a struggle to reach even a limited, 30-day ceasefire — which Moscow and Kyiv agreed to in principle last week -- with both sides continuing to attack each other with drones and missiles and disagreement over what kinds of targets would be included in a pause on strikes.

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the the outcome of the talks in Riyadh “has been reported in the capitals” and was currently being “analyzed” by Moscow and Washington, but that the Kremlin has no plans to release any details of what was discussed to the public.

“We’re talking about technical negotiations, negotiations with immersion in details," Peskov said, adding that while there are currently no plans for U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to speak, such a conversation could be quickly organized if the need arises.

“There is an understanding that the contacts will continue, but there is nothing concrete at the moment,” Peskov said. He added that that there are no plans to hold a three-way meeting between Russia, the U.S. and Ukraine.

Moscow and Kyiv have taken differing interpretations of what a possible partial ceasefire would look like, even after Trump spoke with the leaders of both countries to advance a pause.

While the White House said a partial ceasefire would include ending attacks on “energy and infrastructure,” the Kremlin declared that the agreement referred more narrowly to “energy infrastructure.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he would also like to see sites like railways and ports protected.

Senior Russian lawmaker Grigory Karasin, who took part in the Russia-U.S. talks in Riyadh on Monday, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that the conversation was “very interesting, difficult, but quite constructive.”

“We were at it all day from morning until late at night,” Karasin was quoted by the agency as saying on Tuesday.

Speaking about the war in Ukraine, Karasin said Moscow’s and Washington’s positions don’t always align, but that the two parties will continue to look for ways to cooperate, as there is now an understanding that cooperation is necessary to resolve the conflict. The lawmaker added that talks between expert groups from Russia and the U.S. could continue.

The number of people injured Monday in a Russian missile strike on the center of the Ukrainian city of Sumy rose to 101 people including 23 children, according to the Sumy regional administration.

The strike on Sumy, across the border from Russia’s Kursk region which was partially occupied by Ukraine since August, hit residential buildings and a school, which had to be evacuated due to the attack.

Meanwhile, Russian forces launched one ballistic missile and 139 long-range strike and decoy drones into Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian air force. Those attacks affected seven regions of Ukraine.

Two people were injured after drone debris fell on a warehouse in the Poltava region, administration head Volodymyr Kohut wrote on Telegram Tuesday, while two people were injured outside the city of Zaporizhzhia, according to the head of the region.

One man suffered injuries after a Russian drone attack in Kherson, city administration head Roman Mrochko wrote on Telegram Tuesday.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a paramedic evacuates an elderly resident whose house was hit by Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a psychologist works with residents of houses which were hit by a Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out the fire following a Russian attack in Sumy, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)