A few minutes before leaving the presidency, Joe Biden pardoned his siblings and their spouses, saying Monday that his family had been “subjected to incessant attacks and threats, motivated solely by the desire to harm me – the worst form of partisan politics.”
“Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe that these attacks will end,” he said as his presidential term drew to a close.
The family pardons were the surprise endpoint of a series of unprecedented presidential actions by the Democrat, known as an intuitionist during his half-century in politics. Biden also pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and allies targeted by Republican President Donald Trump. He was sworn in on Monday.
This is a remarkable use of Biden’s presidential power: none of the people mentioned above have been charged with any crime, and the move was designed to guard against possible retaliation by of Trump.
Trump, during his campaign, repeatedly suggested that he would seek to use the Justice Department to exact retaliation against his perceived political enemies. His pick for attorney general, Pam Bondi, told lawmakers during her confirmation hearing last week that the department would not pursue anyone for political purposes. But she refused to rule out possible investigations into Trump’s adversaries, including the special counsel who filed two federal criminal charges against Trump that have since been dropped.
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Last month, Biden pardoned his son Hunter for tax and gun crimes, despite his previous pledges not to do so.
Biden issued blanket pardons to his brother James and his wife, Sara; his sister, Valerie, and her husband, John Owens; and his brother François.
“The granting of these pardons should not be misconstrued as an acknowledgment that they have committed any wrongdoing, nor should their acceptance be construed as an admission of guilt for any offense,” he said. -he declared in a press release.
The graces arrived shortly before noon. Biden was already at the Capitol to attend Trump’s inauguration.
House Republicans sent a letter to the Justice Department in June recommending prosecution of Hunter and James Biden, accusing them of making false statements to Congress as part of a Republican impeachment inquiry. James Biden’s lawyer at the time called it a “baseless partisan action.” James Biden’s business dealings have come under intense scrutiny by Republicans amid their failed impeachment inquiry. Republicans pointed to a series of payments that they said showed the president benefited from his brother’s work.
House Democrats defended the transaction, pointing to bank records they say show James Biden was repaying a loan from his brother Joe, who wired him $200,000 about six weeks earlier. Money changed hands while Joe Biden was a private citizen.
In a voluntary interview as part of the impeachment inquiry, James Biden said his brother “was never involved” in the business dealings of other members of his family.
Other presidents have pardoned family members, but these were for specific criminal convictions.
Bill Clinton pardoned his brother Roger on drug charges after he had completed his sentence about ten years earlier. In the final weeks of his first term, Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as several allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
© 2025 The Canadian Press