Following suggestions from those on the right that the Biden family should be prosecuted, Joe Biden offered a series of broad preemptive pardons to members of his family, including his sister and two brothers, just minutes before he left office.
Biden made the remark while attending Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony, when he 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 stated in a statement. “Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.”
Republicans immediately accused the pardons of being hypocritical. Trump team spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer said on X that before he left office in 2020, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer cautioned Trump against pardoning his children. Schumer compared preemptive pardons to an abuse of power at the time.
After he and his White House constantly stated that he would not do so, Biden previously pardoned his son, Hunter, of federal weapons and tax charges.
Many Democrats were not pleased with that decision. Sen. Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, recently told USA Today that Biden’s choice to pardon Hunter was incredibly careless. Schiff, who has been singled out by Trump and his supporters after being a member of the House committee that looked into the attack at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, was also pardoned by Biden on Monday.
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“I support the rule of law and have faith that our judicial system’s power will finally triumph over politics. However, the lives, safety, and financial stability of the targeted individuals and their families are severely damaged by irrational and politically driven inquiries. The sheer act of being looked into or charged can cause irreversible harm to a person’s money and reputation, even if they have done nothing wrong and will be found not guilty, Biden added in his remarks.
As he left office Monday, Biden issued a number of preemptive pardons, including those for Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley, other members and staff of the committee that looked into the Jan. 6 attack, and Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the committee. Biden also pardoned five family members.
“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 press release. “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.”