Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator, said Biden should “very seriously consider” the use of preemptive pardons to protect members of Congress who investigated Trump’s role in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Trump has threatened to prosecute those involved in the 6 January congressional investigation and other top Democrats, including the California senator Adam Schiff, the California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, and the former Wyoming congresswoman Liz Cheney.