At the time of the pardon, the chatter was: Well he was in contact with his counterpart in China during the first Trump administration and with Trump coming back into office....
Here's The Hill, January 20, 2025, four hours after Trump took the oath of office for the second time:
Why Biden pardoned Mark Milley ahead of Trump taking office
Former President Biden’s preemptive pardon for retired Gen. Mark Milley, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will give the retired military official a shield against any action that President Trump might take against him amid their highly public feud.
Biden also issued preemptive pardons Monday to Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; some of Biden’s family members; and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump, who warned of “enemies from within” on the campaign trail, has sparked fears he will wield the Justice Department for political retaliation. He has repeatedly spoken out against Milley since leaving office and once suggested that he deserved execution.
Milley has, at times, responded forcefully to Trump’s comments, taking a shot at Trump in his farewell speech as Joint Chiefs chair in September 2023, telling gathered service members, “We don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator.”
Milley reportedly called Trump “fascist to the core” in comments included in a 2024 book by journalist Bob Woodward.
“No one has ever been as dangerous to this country as Donald Trump,” Milley said, according to Woodward.
Milley also told Woodward he was concerned Trump would take action against him, saying the president was a “walking, talking advertisement of what he’s going to try to do.”
Milley was also a source in Woodward’s 2021 book “Peril,” in which he reportedly shared concerns about Trump’s mental stability and national security concerns.
Trump appointed Milley to chair the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2019. Milley had a rocky start as the nation’s highest-ranking military officer....
....MUCH MORE
Even if we accept that narrative, there is a second and possibly more important question to be asked. Here is the Pardon Warrant from the Department of Justice:
Executive Grant of Clemency
JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR.
President of the United States of America
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, GREETING:
BE IT KNOWN, THAT THIS DAY, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PURSUANT TO MY POWERS UNDER ARTICLE II, SECTION 2, CLAUSE 1, OF THE CONSTITUTION, HAVE GRANTED UNTO
GENERAL MARK A. MILLEY
A FULL AND UNCONDITIONAL PARDONFOR ANY OFFENSES against the United States, including but not limited to any offenses under the United States Code or the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which he may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014, through the date of this pardon arising from or in any manner related to his service as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal of the Department of Justice to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington this 19th
day of January in the year of our Lord
Two Thousand and Twenty-Five and of the
Independence of the United States the
Two Hundred and Forty-Ninth.
This is the point where Columbo, on his way out the door, turns and says:
"Just one more thing."
The second question is: Why does the period of time covered by the pardon extend back to 2014?
