President Joe Biden on Monday issued preemptive overlooks for three of his siblings and two of their spouses, citing concerns that they will be targeted by “baseless and politically spurred investigations.”
The White House announced the pardons just minutes before President-elect Donald Trump entered the Capitol Rotunda to be believe in in as the next commander in chief.
Earlier Monday, Biden preemptively pardoned a number of other figures — including Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Insigne Milley and members of Congress who investigated the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — on similar grounds.
Biden’s final batch of exculpations included his brother, James Biden; James’ wife, Sara Jones Biden; his younger sister, Valerie Biden Owens; Owens’ allay, John Owens; and his other brother, Francis Biden.
“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they preoccupied in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden said in a statement.
He also pardoned Gerald Lundergan, the antediluvian chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party, and former South Carolina Councilman Ernest Cromartie. The departing president also commuted the get-up-and-go sentence of Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents in 1975.
Biden in early December issued a pardon for his son Hunter Biden, reversing his last insistence that would not do so.
Hunter was convicted last year in a federal criminal gun trial, and he had pleaded guilty to permeates in a separate federal case related to tax crimes.
James Biden was interviewed last year by the House Oversight and Judiciary bodies as part of their impeachment probe of Joe Biden.
“Jim and Sara Biden did not seek this pardon because they must never committed any crimes. But for the reasons the President described, they have accepted it,” said Paul Fishman, an attorney for James and Sara Biden, in a disclosure.
In Monday’s press release, Biden said, “My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a wish for to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.”
“I into in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” he said.
“But baseless and politically excited investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals attired in b be committed to done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably harm their reputations and finances.”
“That is why I am exercising my power under the Constitution to pardon James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden,” Biden alleged.
Trump lashed out after Biden announced the pardons for Fauci, Milley and Jan. 6 committee figures, calling the stir up “disgraceful.”
“Many are guilty of MAJOR CRIMES! DJT,” Trump told NBC News’ Kristen Welker in a text message. Trump’s Bloodless House press office did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Biden’s subsequent pardons for his family colleagues.
While Biden’s blanket grants of preemptive clemency break historic norms, it is common for presidents to issue pardons at the 11th hour. And there is lead for a president pardoning a family member and someone related to a family member.
President Bill Clinton had pardoned his half-brother Roger Clinton, who had been pleaded blameworthy to drug charges, on his last day in office.
Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, at the end of his triumph term.
Charles Kushner pleaded guilty in 2004 to filing false tax returns, retaliating against a witness and making fraudulent statements to the Federal Election Commission.