Just minutes before leaving office, Joe Biden announced a set of sweeping preemptive pardons to members of his family, including his two brothers and his sister, after some on the right suggested the Biden family should face prosecution.
The announcement came as Biden attended the inauguration ceremony for Donald Trump, who was sworn in as the 47th president on Monday.
“My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics,” Biden said in a statement. “Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.”
The pardons quickly drew claims of hypocrisy from Republicans. Alex Pfeiffer, a Trump team spokesman, noted on X that Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warned Trump against pardoning his children in 2020 before leaving office. At the time, Schumer likened preemptive pardons to an abuse of power.
Biden already pardoned his son, Hunter, of federal gun and tax charges after he and his White House repeatedly said he would not take such an action.
That move did not sit well with many Democrats. Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., recently told USA Today that Biden’s pardon of Hunter was a “very ill-considered decision.” On Monday, Biden also pardoned Schiff, who has been targeted by Trump and his allies after serving on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.
“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances,” Biden continued in his statement.
Biden’s pardons for five family members were among a slew of preemptive pardons he issued as he left office Monday, including for Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, other members and staff of the committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack, and Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before it.
Then-Vice President Joe Biden and his sister, Valerie Biden Owens, walk off Air Force Two in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 2012.
“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 said in a statement. “The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
#Biden #issues #preemptive #pardons #members #family #final #acts #president
Leave a Reply