()  President Joe Biden issued pardons for retired Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci and members of the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot on Tuesday, just hours before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

People who are close to Trump expect the president-elect might try to prosecute those who have gone against him politically or sought to hold him accountable for his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss.

In a previous interview with , U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said the House Judiciary Committee would be considering potential investigations into the Jan. 6 committee.

Biden said in a statement that the issuance of the 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.”

“These public servants have served our nation with honor and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions,” Biden said in a statement.

Several of those on the committee who got pardons Tuesday publicly said they didn’t want them, nor did they feel they even needed one. They include former Republican representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

However, Bennie Thompson, chairman of the committee, has gone on record saying he would accept the pardon for fear of prosecution in the incoming administration. 

Trump’s pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi wouldn’t commit either way to prosecuting or not prosecuting the incoming president’s political foes during her confirmation hearing last week. Instead, she said she needed to “look at the facts and circumstances.”

Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Trump a fascist and detailed Trump’s conduct around the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.

Fauci was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. He coordinated the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and raised the ire of Trump after refusing to back the president-elect’s claims about the virus.

The Associated Press and digital producer Cassie Buchman contributed to this report.