Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s last-minute preemptive pardons for five members of his family came after years of scrutiny from Republicans.
Mr. Biden on Monday granted a full and unconditional pardon to James Biden, his brother; Sara Biden, James’s wife; Valerie Biden Owens, the former president’s sister; John T. Owens, the husband of Mrs. Owens; and Francis W. Biden, the youngest of the former president’s siblings.
None of the former president’s five family members have been charged with crimes, but congressional Republicans have claimed that some Bidens have taken advantage of Mr. Biden’s long tenure in government.
During the election campaign, President Trump signaled that he planned to use the Justice Department to “pursue» members of the Biden family.
In a statement announcing the pardons, released 21 minutes before the end of his presidency, Mr. Biden said the pardons “should not be misconstrued as an acknowledgment of wrongdoing, nor as an admission of guilt.” for any infraction. »
He deplored the “incessant attacks and threats” against his family, adding: “unfortunately, I have no reason to believe that these attacks will end.”
Paul J. Fishman, an attorney for James and Sara Biden, said in a statement that they “did not ask for this pardon because they never committed crimes.” But, he added, they accepted the pardon for the reasons described by the former president.
The reaction from Congressional Republicans appears to confirm Mr. Biden’s hypothesis.
Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, denounced the pardons in a statement. statement as “an admission” of the corruption of the Biden family “as they sold out the American people to enrich themselves.”
Mr. Comer had helped lead an impeachment inquiry against Mr. Biden that focused on his family’s business dealings, particularly those of the former president’s son, Hunter Biden.
While his father was vice president and, in some cases, afterward — but before Mr. Biden became president — Hunter Biden accepted millions of dollars tied to businesses in China, Romania and Ukraine , some of which had interests that overlapped with those of the U.S. government.
Prosecutors investigated whether the younger Biden violated foreign lobbying laws and suggested they had evidence This could have justified such charges, but they ultimately charged him only with tax evasion on his foreign income and illegal purchase of a firearm.
He was convicted of firearms charges And pleaded guilty to last year’s tax charges.
Last month, despite several promising he wouldn’this father forgave him for these offenses, as well as for other offenses that he “could have committed or in which he would have participated during the period from January 1, 2014 to December 1, 2024”.
Radical amnesty, which experts in difficultyappeared intended to exclude prosecution for foreign lobbying or other violations.
His uncle, James Biden, was involved in some foreign businesses.
He had been asked about the subject by the FBI and IRS in 2022. He has not been accused of wrongdoing.
James Biden also had be subject to scrutiny for his involvement with Americore, a healthcare company that turned to him to help grow its business, according to testimony he gave to congressional Republicans last year as part of their impeachment inquiry into the former president.
Americore filed for bankruptcy in 2019 amid lawsuits and federal investigation reported.
A trustee responsible for overseeing the liquidation of the company continued James Biden in 2022accusing him of failing to repay more than $600,000 in loans. He then agreed to pay the trustee $350,000 to settle the lawsuit, according to a court filing.
The lawsuit claimed that James Biden obtained the loans “based on representations that his last name, ‘Biden,’ could ‘open doors’ and that he could obtain significant investment from the Middle East based on his political relationships.
Republicans had sought information about that deal and his work with his nephew Hunter.
According to Republican congressional impeachment investigators who subpoenaed the Biden family’s banking records, in the months after Mr. Biden left the vice presidency, Hunter Biden received $1 million in dollars from a company linked to the Chinese government, then transferred part of it to James Biden. Other deals highlighted by Republicans involved a company owned by James and Sara Biden.
Some of the transactions were detailed by prosecutors in their tax indictment against Hunter Biden, although they did not identify James Biden by name.
In June, Mr. Comer and other congressional Republicans formally requested that the Justice Department accuses James Biden and Hunter Biden of lying to Congress in their testimony. Lawyers for Hunter and James Biden denounced the dismissals as a political stunt.
But last week, Mr. Comer request that Mr. Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, takes up the case concerning James Biden.
Mr. Comer’s committee staff released a report in 2022 accusing other members of Mr. Biden’s family of capitalizing on his presidency. He said that Valerie Biden Owens, a long-time political advisor to his brother, signed a book offer after he was elected president, and that the law firm that employed Francis W. Biden had run a newspaper ad on Inauguration Day in 2021, highlighting his relationship with the new president.
Neither have been accused of wrongdoing by law enforcement, nor has Ms. Owens’ husband.