Just hours before leaving office, President Joe Biden issued presidential pardons for retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

“This issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden said in the statement.

“Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country,” he said.

Neither Milley nor Fauci had been charged with any crime.

However, both individuals had drawn intense scrutiny for actions they took during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.

News of the pardons was first reporting by CNN’s Manu Raju on X.

In Milley’s case, the former military commander has faced broad criticism for communicating with Chinese military officials while Trump was in the White House in a manner that undermined Trump’s role as Commander-in-Chief.

Milley admitted after the 2020 election that he communicated directly with his counterparts in the Chinese government in Oct. 2020, claiming that he told Chinese military commanders that the military would not allow Trump to issue strike orders on Chinese targets.

He has since defended his decision to secretly communicate behind President Trump’s back with America’s top geopolitical foe.

For Fauci, the allegations of potentially criminal conduct relate to steps he took during the COVID-19 pandemic when Trump and, later, Biden elevated him to a role of high significance in national policymaking.

Subsequent revelations, driven by congressional and media investigations, have revealed that Fauci helped cover up the Chinese origins of the COVID-19 virus, as well as his office’s role in funding the so-called “Gain of Function” research that is suspected of contributing to the virus.

At the same time, Biden granted preemptive pardons to Milley and Fauci, he also granted legal protections to current and former Members of Congress who sat on the controversial “Jan. 6 Committee,” a committee nominally aimed at investigating the Capitol Hill riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

The committee, including former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, has also faced searing criticism for destroying evidence and using subpoenas to target members of Trump’s inner circle.

Biden has granted clemency or issued pardons to more individuals than any U.S. president in history, including his son, Hunter Biden.

The first instance of a preemptive pardon being issued for crimes that were potentially committed, rather than for crimes an individual had been charged with or convicted of, occurred first in 1974. This happened when President Gerald Ford pardoned President Richard Nixon for any crimes he “committed or may have committed” during his time in office.