Joe Biden's Family Pardons: A Controversial Decision
The Controversial Family Pardons by President Joe Biden
As one of his final acts in office, President Joe Biden pardoned several members of his family.
The White House announced the pardons in a last batch of clemency decisions just minutes before Donald Trump took the oath of office, saying they were intended to prevent “baseless and politically motivated investigations” against his family.
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.”
Republicans quickly decried the Biden family pardons as a shocking abuse meant to cover up evidence of influence peddling and corruption.
