The Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety. Seated at the table are Detective Joseph Mensah (left) and Wisconsin Fraternal Order of Police President Ryan Windorff (right) (Photo by Isiah Holmes/Wisconsin Examiner)

“Baseless,” “false allegations,” and “meant to harass” were phrases used by Republican senators and police groups to describe what they called the “abuse” of Wisconsin’s John Doe law to exact vengeance on police officers who were involved in fatal incidents. 

“Activists have discovered that the John Doe process itself can be the punishment they seek against innocent law enforcement officers in our community,” said Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield) during a Thursday afternoon hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. 

It was the second time Hutton has introduced a bill taking aim at Wisconsin’s John Doe law. The law, which applies to a wide range of crimes, allows a judge to review cases in which prosecutors have declined to file charges. A judge then decides whether probable cause for a crime exists. If so, then the judge may appoint special prosecutors to consider whether charges are needed. Hutton’s bill seeks to limit the law’s use against officers involved in fatal shootings. 

Hutton, calling the the law “archaic,” said that it’s “being often used with more frequency against police officers.” Any person or group can file a complaint with a court and request the initiation of a John Doe process, he said. If passed, Hutton’s bill would prevent the John Doe law from being used in cases where there is no new or “unused” evidence and where prosecutors already decided that a officer acted in self-defense.

Although Hutton didn’t clarify what might count as “new” or “unused” evidence, he did talk at length about his conversations with police officers. The senator described going on ride-alongs and watching officers respond to domestic violence calls, “legally going 90 miles per hour” to respond to emergencies, and how disrespected and criticized officers often felt. Hutton described having conversations with officers who said they felt more “timid” and feared being charged for something like a fatal shooting. Many officers, Hutton said, are leaving the job at a time when some agencies struggle with understaffing. 

Hutton said that two recent John Doe hearings involving police shootings have further damaged morale. A 2021 hearing reviewed the shooting of 25-year-old Jay Anderson Jr. by then-Wauwatosa Police officer Joseph Mensah. In 2016 Anderson, who was sleeping in his car in a park late at night when Mensah approached him, was the second person Mensah had fatally shot within a year. Over his five-year career at Wauwatosa PD Mensah was involved in three fatal shootings. Anderson, who Mensah said was reaching for a gun when he shot him, was the only person Mensah’s shot whose killing triggered a John Doe hearing. 

Another John Doe hearing in 2023 looked into the killing of Tony Robinson by Madison Police officer Matthew Kenny. The 19-year-old was killed in his apartment after officers responded to reports that he was acting erratically. His family was awarded a $3.3 million settlement in 2017, the largest for a police shooting in Wisconsin history at the time. 

Neither of the John Doe hearings succeeded, however. Although probable cause was found in Mensah’s case for homicide by negligent use of a dangerous weapon, special prosecutors declined to pursue charges. A judge declined to continue with Kenny’s case. Hutton referred to both hearings as a growing problem, but the Mensah and Kenny cases were the only two the senator and police lobbyists said they were aware of. Hutton pointed to Mensah, who attended the Thursday hearing to offer testimony, as the inspiration for the bill to limit John Doe proceedings. 

Other Republicans on the committee appeared supportive of changing the John Doe law. Sen. Andre Jacque (R- DePere) likened its use to “attacks on qualified immunity” for police, and Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) — committee chairman and a former police officer — as well as Sen. Jesse James (R-Altoona), another law enforcement official, and police lobbyists, stressed that officers need to be able to act without hesitation. 

Committee Democrats, however, were not sold. Sen. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee), questioned the imbalance of power within the criminal justice system that the bill could create, and wondered whether Hutton had talked to representatives of the State Bar of Wisconsin, which is opposed to the bill. Hutton said he had not. Hutton described those bringing John Doe cases against officers as seeking to “demonize someone in law enforcement.” Whereas the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin and the Civil Rights and Liberties Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin registered against the bill, two Wisconsin police associations and the State Lodge Fraternal Order of Police registered in support. 

Under the microscope 

Mensah’s shooting of Anderson was investigated by the Milwaukee Police Department before the John Doe. Their investigation in 2016 was reviewed by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, who declined to charge Mensah. A separate civil rights review, and internal Wauwatosa PD review, were also conducted. In 2020, an independent investigator also found that Mensah had violated multiple department policies when he did a radio show interview. Hutton called the use of the John Doe law against police officers as “a gap that needs to be sown up and closed.” 

After the hearing was over, Hutton told Wisconsin Examiner that although he’s talked extensively with police officers and their families, that he has not spoken with family members of anyone killed by police, such as those in Mensah’s shootings. “I haven’t heard from any of them,” Hutton said of the Anderson family and other relatives of those killed by Mensah. “I would love to have conversations with any of them in that regard, I have not had any conversation with them at this point.” 

Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison) said that she was “troubled by the callousness” of the discussion of Hutton’s bill. Roys said police officers and the people they kill, as well as the family members of the deceased, are victims of a tragic situation. “You have to have accountability,” said Roys. “People need to be able to trust law enforcement.” Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) pointed out that John Doe hearings involving police officers are infrequent. 

Ryan Windorff, president of the Wisconsin Order of Police, called the allegations made during John Doe hearings “baseless.” Windorff said the hearings came into vogue after what he called an “anti-police movement” which had “infected” the country. Windorff said investigations are transparent, and that while families have rights, those rights do not “usurp” the ability of police officers to defend themselves. 

Mensah also testified at the hearing. In 2020, Mensah resigned from the Wauwatosa PD after being suspended by the Police and Fire Commission. He was later hired by the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department, where he said he underwent “a unique hiring process.” Besides a background check, the sheriff and Defensive and Arrest Tactics (DAAT) experts did their own review, which he passed. Nevertheless, Mensah said that other agencies had been unwilling to  hire him because of “publicly-made…available information.” He added that the only public information besides police reports is the news, about which he said, “they have their right, they can be biased if they want.”

Mensah described the investigations and scrutiny after his three fatal shootings as “a constant drain.” He said that a John Doe proceeding could be brought “literally for anything,” and that he lives knowing that he could be charged with a crime any day. Mensah said police “aren’t granted the same protections and the same benefit of the doubt, or anything.”

“Unfortunately now, the way the law is written, the scale is heavily not in our favor,” said Mensah. 

He also took aim at the protests that focused on him in 2020 and 2021. Mensah said he didn’t understand why protesters demonstrated at the home of the woman he has since married and his parents’ house, chanting Black Lives Matter when he is a Black officer himself. “My race was completely stripped from me. I was no longer considered Black. I was considered just an officer,” he said. 

The protests and hearings were difficult to explain to his family and kids, Mensah added. “There’s been clear civil rights violations against myself, no one cares,” said Mensah. “No one cares when it’s violations against my children. No one cares when it’s violations against my wife.” Mensah’s wife, whose maiden name is Patricia Swayka, is a former Milwaukee police officer. In 2024, she appeared on a “Brady list” of officers with problematic histories obtained by TMJ4 through records requests. 

Mensah added that “this has been just a cold, calculated process of just harassing me, harassing my family, and using this law to take advantage of it. And there needs to be some type of change before it happens to someone else.” 

Mensah talked about a protest outside his house that escalated into a confrontation, in which a protester brought a gun and fired it. Several protesters were arrested for the incident, and three were charged with either handling, firing, or transporting a shotgun. Wauwatosa PD, the FBI, and Milwaukee PD specialized units all helped investigate the incident. 

During the hearing, Mensah said that the judge in his John Doe hearing “got it wrong” and that “the system as we have it is flawed, and people are using it not to get justice, but to get revenge. And specifically revenge against me.” Mensah said that he used to be a “very proactive” officer, and that Anderson’s shooting occurred when he was more proactive on the job. 

Mensah told the Senate committee “I did not have a chance to defend myself,” during the John Doe hearings. “Anytime something was brought up, I couldn’t question it.” According to court filings from the hearing, however, Mensah pleaded the Fifth Amendment, since he was subject to criminal charges. After the Senate committee hearing when asked about this, Mensah said “I honestly don’t remember.” He told Wisconsin Examiner that “I was instructed that we weren’t allowed to say anything in that hearing.” Mensah vaguely recalled “some mention of it”, referring to his Fifth Amendment pleading. “I honestly don’t remember if I did, or if there was questions about what if it got to a certain point.” 

 

19 – Brief in Support of Motion to Quash Subpoena of Joseph Mensah

 

When asked how the Anderson shooting was misrepresented by Anderson’s family and their lawyers, Mensah recalled people saying “I shot him 13 times in the back,” which wasn’t correct. Elsewhere Mensah saw people mistaking his ethnicity. “I get it…You can only report what you know…What you’re told, what you find out. Some stuff’s true, some stuff isn’t. Some stuff’s intentional, some stuff’s not. I can’t say what isn’t intentional, and what’s not. At the same time, it’s kind of like in law enforcement, if I’m interviewing someone and they tell me something, I can only take that at face value and put it forward.”

Asked whether he felt that his career in the Waukesha Sheriff’s Department had been negatively affected, he said, “All I know is I applied for the detective position, I got it. I applied for a lieutenant position, didn’t get that.” 

“In some ways I’ve been promoted, in some ways I haven’t,” he said. 

Democratic Sens. Johnson and Drake expressed skepticism in comments after the hearing.

Johnson compared the John Doe bill to Republican efforts to impose stricter regulations  on bail and parole, arguing that judges need more authority to keep violent offenders incarcerated. Yet Hutton’s John Doe bill, she pointed out, takes away discretion and power from judges. 

“It really boils down to who we decide are victims,” said Drake.

Clarification: This article has been updated to reflect that the Civil Rights and Liberties Section of the State Bar of Wisconsin, not the State Bar as a whole, registered against the bill to end John Doe proceedings against police officers.

Protesters rally Wednesday outside the Wisconsin Capitol building in Madison. (Photo by Erik Gunn/Wisconsin Examiner)

Julie Mankowski was alarmed from the day Donald Trump took the oath of office on Jan. 20 and followed it with a flurry of executive orders and other actions: He erased U.S. policy references to gender diversity, withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accords, pardoned people convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection.

“I knew it was going to accelerate,” Mankowski told the Wisconsin Examiner Wednesday, “and I did not want them to keep their foot on that gas.”

That is why she was out on the steps of the Wisconsin state Capitol Wednesday, holding a sign declaring “Forward!” — one of hundreds who showed up to protest the actions that Trump and his associates have taken in the first two and a half weeks of his administration.

People at the rally brandished home-made signs with no shortage of issues on which to call out the 47th president of the United States. 

Signs supported the rights of LGBTQ+ people, especially those who are trans and gender-nonconforming. Signs promoted reproductive rights. Signs decried fascism and equated Trump with Nazis.

Signs attacked Project 2025 — the Heritage Foundation document that Trump denied any connection to during his campaign but has been widely seen as foretelling much of the president’s actions since he took office, including the freezing of federal funds.

Signs defended immigrants — targeted by tough new deportation orders and Trump’s attempt, blocked by a federal judge on Wednesday, to undo the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.

 And many signs attacked Elon Musk, the billionaire to whom Trump has given access to an increasingly large chunk of the government, most notably the federal payments system. One called for deporting the South African-born Musk.

A peaceful and raucous demonstration

The event was both peaceful and raucous. There were no organized counter demonstrators evident, although one or two arguments erupted with lone Trump supporters who worked their way into the crowd.

A small collection of speakers addressed the gathering crowd on the west steps of the Capitol facing Madison’s iconic State Street.

One led the crowd in a brief round of singing John Lennon’s anthem, “Give Peace a Chance.” Several reminded the crowd of upcoming spring elections — a primary election Feb. 18 and a general election for the next state Supreme Court justice on April 1.

That prompted a brief chant of the name of Susan Crawford, the Dane County judge endorsed by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (in what’s officially a nonpartisan race) and viewed as the bulwark against returning the Court’s majority from four liberals to four conservatives.

Mankowski was the last speaker of the group, alternating between an uncooperative public address system microphone and a bullhorn.

“We are here because we are facing a threat to our collective existence,” she said. “We are facing a threat to our democracy and to our freedom.”

She spoke of the hundreds who were there, and countless more who didn’t show up.

“Every single person here is in pain. They’re afraid, they’re angry,” Mankowski said. “There are people who are not here, who are so afraid they couldn’t bring themselves to come.”

The crowd cheered her on, but she sought as well to break through to those whose cheers masked their anxiety and whose anxiety paralyzed their will. Everyone should feel welcome at a protest such as this one, she told them. Everyone should feel permission to raise their voice.

“Every single thing that you can possibly do, you do,” Mankowski said. “It doesn’t matter how small it is. It doesn’t matter how little of an impact you think it will have. It will have an impact. We all — we all must be — we all must be grains of sand in the gears of tyranny.”

The eyes of the world are on the United States, she said.

“There are so many people in the world right now who are watching us. They’re watching America. Because if it gets a hold here, where are they going now? I do not want a legacy of fascism to be a legacy of our country,” Mankowski said.

Parade around the Capitol

A parade around the Capitol followed, with a crowd large enough to stretch more than five blocks — three sides of Capitol Square that surrounds the building.

Afterward, while a portion of the group continued part way down State Street, Mankowski stayed back and talked about her decision to join Wednesday’s protest. 

An optician in Madison, Mankowski is accustomed to social activism. She took a role in putting together a July 4 demonstration that followed the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2022 overturning Roe v. Wade.

“I’m not shy about what I believe in and I think that being quiet about what we believe in is how we start to get separated from one another,” she said.

She joined an impromptu protest outside the Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 29, and returned over the weekend. By then she’d heard about the protest planned for Wednesday — a loosely organized collection of events that were supposed to take place at noon in all 50 states.

Across the country in the days leading up to Wednesday, word spread on social media about the day of protests. Skepticism spread as well, as people questioned the absence of endorsements from high-profile organizations.

The fact-checking site Snopes.com posted an article Tuesday quoting a subreddit moderator who said the protests were “completely decentralized” in planning and execution. In Madison, some standing activist groups made plans to join, then backed away, uncertain about the event’s credibility or safety.

By the time noon arrived on Capitol Square, however, hundreds of people had packed onto the concrete staircase and spilled over onto the grass-covered hillside in front of the building.

Mankowski said she understood why some people had been wary of Wednesday’s demonstration, considering the current climate in the country. 

She pointed especially to the Trump administration’s actions on immigration and birthright citizenship, plans to send deported immigrants to Guantanamo or to prisons in El Salvador, and the use of pictures from deportation actions “as functionally propaganda images.”

“Those are pictures of human beings,” she said. “It’s not numbers and stacks, that’s people that they are using as a tool to make more people afraid: ‘If we did it to them, it could happen to you.’”

“People are tense and they are on edge,” she said. “And when things like a protest announcement starts to happen, people don’t just think of what it could be for — they think about how it could be used against them, because they’re seeing many aspects of their lives being turned against them right now.”

People have lost trust in institutions, she said, and they aren’t even sure about their neighbors. “They feel unmoored.”

Mankowski sees voters as increasingly detached from politics and political news, a consequence, she says, of feeling disenfranchised. “In their mind their vote doesn’t count,” she said. “And realistically, people who want our democracy to fail want you to think your vote doesn’t count.”

The road away from that apathy, she believes, starts with authenticity and connection.

“Being real with people is the best way to reach people, because people are real,” Mankowski said. “Like, our lives are real, the things we’re experiencing are real, and showing them that you, too, are real and that you have real things in your life, things that you care about, that you care about them, that you care about the fact that they are in pain and that they are unhappy and that they are feeling detached from reality.”

She pointed to her poster, which celebrated “The Wisconsin Idea,” a historic vision of the state’s university system that expressed its role as serving everyone in the state. Wednesday’s demonstration, with all its informality and diversity, demonstrated that sense of inclusion, she suggested.

“This is supposed to be, we, the people of Wisconsin,” Mankowski said. “It is not actually an organization. It is the people of Wisconsin — whoever showed up on that day, you know, to do their work.”

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Demonstrators gathered on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, to protest the Trump administration's dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — Thousands gathered on Capitol Hill Wednesday to protest the Trump administration’s bulldozing of U.S. disaster aid and critical medical care in war-torn and poverty-stricken regions around the globe.

The future of American humanitarian efforts is unclear after U.S. Agency for International Development employees were told late Tuesday to prepare for administrative leave and abandon global posts within a few weeks.

A throng of demonstrators near the U.S. Senate office buildings carried signs reading “Republicans, where are your spines?” and “USAID makes America safe, strong and prosperous.”

 They encircled Democratic lawmakers and former USAID officials, who pleaded with the crowd to “not give up” as the Republican-held Congress allows “Elon Musk’s illegal takeover of USAID” — as Democratic Rep. Sara Jacobs of California put it.

“And let’s be clear, while USAID might be first, it is not going to be the last. But joke’s on them because who knows better how to work in an authoritarian country than all of you?” she said to a cheering crowd that included humanitarian workers.

DOGE takeover

Individuals identifying themselves as part of Musk’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” forcefully entered the computer systems at USAID’s Washington, D.C., headquarters over the weekend.

Democratic lawmakers have vowed “to fight this legally in every way we can,” Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey told the crowd.

“We will fight their violation of civil service laws. We will fight their violation of civil rights laws. We will fight their violations of separation of powers. We will fight their violations of our Constitution of the United States of America,” Booker said, issuing a plea for Republicans to join in sponsoring legislation to save USAID.

“This is not about demonizing a political party. It is about telling the truth about Donald Trump’s actions and Elon Musk’s actions,” Booker said.

Rep. Madeleine Dean told the crowd “do not fatigue.”

“These are not normal times,” said the Pennsylvania Democrat. “What is going on is corrupt. It is cruel, it is chaotic, it is lawless, it is unconstitutional, and that’s the point. Do not go home. Please stay with us. Bring more people to us and demand the same of our Republican colleagues. Where are they? When will they stand up to this lawless administration?”

In response to questions about Musk’s personnel gaining entry to USAID, President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that the agency is “run by radical lunatics, and we’re getting them out and we’ll make a decision.”

Trump placed Musk in charge of the “U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization” that, according to Trump’s own executive order, is supposed to modernize federal technology and software. Musk has used it to gain access to USAID, as well as the Treasury Department’s payment systems — for which the department is now facing a lawsuit. 

All workers on leave

All “direct hire” USAID workers will be placed on leave as of 11:59 p.m. Eastern on Friday, according to a message posted late Tuesday on USAID.gov. The message is the first item to appear on the website since it went dark Saturday.

Workers who are “designated personnel responsible for mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs” will be notified by Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern if they are expected to continue working, according to the memo. Overseas workers have 30 days to leave their posts unless given an exception for a special circumstance.

“Thank you for your service,” the message concluded.

The Department of State did not respond to States Newsroom’s questions regarding how many workers will remain employed and where they will continue humanitarian missions.

Two-thirds of the roughly 10,000 USAID employees work overseas. The top 10 recipients of USAID assistance in 2023, the most recent complete data available, were Ukraine, Ethiopia, Jordan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Syria, according to the Congressional Research Service.

“You know who’s cheering today?” Bama Athreya, former USAID deputy administrator, asked the crowd. “ISIS is cheering. Al Qaeda is cheering as we recall thousands of people around the world” who give young people and families “options,” she said.

Ukraine aid

Congress allocated roughly $40 billion for USAID in 2023. That year, the agency allocated a large chunk to governance and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as the Eastern European nation faces a continued invasion from Russia.

The agency also carries a reputation for its work containing global health emergencies — perhaps best known for administering funds to fight the global AIDS epidemic under President George W. Bush’s President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.

Atul Gawande, a surgeon who led USAID’s global health program for three years prior to Trump’s second administration, led the crowd in a “Let them work” chant.

“Until two weeks ago, there was a malaria team with world experts, and they are gone. Until two weeks ago, there was a TB (tuberculosis) team, and they are gone,” Gawande said.

“They have called this ‘shock and awe.’ It is shock and destroy. You cannot dismantle a plane and fire the crew in mid-flight, but that’s what an oligarch with unchecked power is doing to life-saving foreign assistance programs,” Gawande said.

Brian York, 41, of Fairfax County, Virginia, stood in the crowd with a double-sided hand-drawn sign bearing the messages “Let’s Make America Gracious Again” and “Defend USAID.”

“I support my government. I was a Boy Scout. My father was a naval aviator. I actually like this country, and I want it to do better than this,” York said.

List of ‘waste, fraud and abuse’

The White House maintains that USAID “has been completely unaccountable for decades, run by bureaucrats with agendas who believed they answered to nobody.”

In a post on X Wednesday, White House communications personnel listed 28 of what they characterized as problematic USAID projects.

Without specifying details, including the length of funding, the post specifically listed: “$6.3 million for men who have sex with men in South Africa,” “$1.3 million to Arab and Jewish photographers,” “$20 million for a new Sesame Street show in Iraq,” “$1.5 million for ‘art for inclusion of people with disabilities,’” and “$500K to solve sectarian violence in Israel.”

“President Trump is STOPPING the waste, fraud, and abuse,” concluded the post on X, which is owned by Musk, a billionaire Trump campaign donor.

USAID’s X account disappeared over the weekend.

Democratic lawmakers protested outside USAID headquarters Monday as Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced he was now acting administrator of the agency.

Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, one of the protesting lawmakers, said he would block Trump’s forthcoming Department of State nominations — a move that will slow down, but not stop, the nominations in the GOP-led chamber. 

Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — Hours before his four-year term ended, President Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons early Monday to several officials and lawmakers who have been the target of incoming President-elect Donald Trump’s threats of retaliation as well as several members of his family.

Biden pardoned retired Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, members and staff of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan Police officers who testified before the committee.

“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. 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,” Biden said in a statement Monday morning.

“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,” Biden said.

Just last month during an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker,” Trump said that Rep. Bennie Thompson and former Rep. Liz Cheney “lied” and “should go to jail.” The Mississippi Democrat and Wyoming Republican led the panel that investigated the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

On that day a violent mob of Trump supporters marched to the Capitol — at Trump’s urging — and assaulted over 140 police officers and caused upwards of $2.8 million in damage to the Capitol, according to the Department of Justice.

Trump has promised to pardon those who were convicted on or pleaded guilty to charges related to the attack, describing them as “hostages,” “patriots” and “warriors.” Approximately 1,580 have been charged, according to the latest Department of Justice figures.

Former U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who was among law enforcement officers to testify before the Jan. 6 committee, wrote on X Sunday that “The law and order dude is about to pardon those who assaulted the police. Collectively more than 40 rioters attacked me that day.”

Milley was chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump’s first administration and continued into Biden’s time in the Oval Office. The retired general is on record describing Trump as a “fascist” and a “wannabe dictator.”

Milley has been the target of Trump’s ire after he refused orders from Trump — among them a directive to send the military to quash protesters in D.C. during a wave of nationwide demonstrations after the murder by police of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Trump has called for political retribution against Milley. The retired general has been receiving “a nonstop barrage of death threats” since his retirement, according to journalist Bob Woodward.

Fauci, who led the U.S. as the chief medical expert during the COVID-19 pandemic, has for years also been the target of threats and investigations from congressional Republicans.

Trump launched partisan attacks on Fauci and began name-calling the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as early as 2020, describing him as “a total disaster.”

Pardons for the Biden family

Minutes before Trump swore his oath of office, the White House announced Biden’s preemptive pardons of his siblings and their spouses.

They include James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden.

“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 said the pardons “should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.”

Rep. James Comer, the Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, said in a statement that the “preemptive pardons for the Biden Crime Family serve as a confession of their corruption as they sold out the American people to enrich themselves.”

Comer’s committee limped along for years on an investigation of Biden that the GOP-led panel said would lead to Biden’s impeachment, which did not occur.

Comer said his committee’s investigation “will be remembered as one of the most successful ever conducted by Congress.”