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 attacked the U.S. Capitol.

In his final hours in office, President Joe Biden issued blanket preemptive pardons Monday to prominent government officials, the bipartisan January 6 th committee, and members of his own family, which Biden said was necessary to prevent retribution from President-elect Donald Trump.

The extraordinary wave of pardons Monday — from Joe Biden as he left the White House and from Donald Trump as soon as he returned to it — demonstrate the potency of the Constitution’s pardon power, but also expose its perils,