By It may be one of the most corrupt acts ever performed by a president. In the final moments of his presidency, Joe Biden issued a series of notable pardons, including clemency for five members of his own family. These pardons, announced just 15 minutes before the inauguration of Donald Trump for a second term, were described by Biden as a precaution against what he anticipated to be politically motivated attacks.
“My family has endured relentless attacks and threats, aimed solely at harming me — the worst form of partisan politics,” Biden said in his closing presidential statement. “Sadly, I have no reason to believe these attacks will stop.”
Donald Trump, however, famously did not prosecute Hillary Clinton upon taking office in 2017, revealing Biden’s comments to likely just be a justification for protecting his corrupt family.
Those granted clemency included James B. Biden, the president’s brother; Sara Jones Biden, James’s wife; Valerie Biden Owens, Biden’s sister; John T. Owens, Valerie’s husband; and Francis W. Biden, another brother.
The pardons are backdated for all nonviolent crimes going as far back as 2014, the year that the then vice president’s son began collecting money from a Ukrainian energy company. Money from Hunter’s schemes allegedly began funneling to various Biden family members shortly afterward, according to a congressional investigation.
Politico writes that Biden had already issued a sweeping pardon in December for his son Hunter, who was facing sentencing in two criminal cases. The pardons for his other family members, signed Sunday, were similarly sweeping and covered all of their “nonviolent” actions dating back to 2014.
The pardon, which includes the president’s siblings James Biden, Francis Biden and Valerie Biden Owens, as well as brother-in-law John Owens and sister-in-law Sara Jones Biden, is one of the most extraordinary — and directly personal — clemency actions ever taken by an outgoing president. Biden attributed the decision to fear that his family would be targeted by the Trump administration and said their acceptance should not be “misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.”
The pardons contradict Biden’s comments in 2020 criticizing Trump amid reports — which turned out to be untrue — that he might pursue “preemptive” pardons for family members and close allies at the end of his first term.
“Well, it concerns me in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of laws and justice,” Biden said in a CNN interview shortly after winning the 2020 election. “Now in terms of the pardons, you’re not going to see in our administration that kind of approach to pardons.”
The Supreme Court said in 1915 that accepting a presidential pardon carries “an imputation of guilt and acceptance of a confession of it.”
Biden’s clemency decisions also included commuting the life sentence of Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist convicted in the 1975 killings of two FBI agents at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Now 80 years old, Peltier will serve the remainder of his sentence under home confinement. The move followed widespread advocacy for his release by Tribal nations, lawmakers, former law enforcement officials, and human rights groups, citing his age, declining health, and his enduring contributions to Native American causes, explained The New York Times.
Additionally, Biden pardoned two Democratic politicians: Ernest William Cromartie, a former South Carolina city councilman, and Gerald G. Lundergan, a Kentucky state legislator, both of whom had faced charges related to financial misconduct.
[Read More: Trump Picks Chicago For First Deportations]
