Joe Biden preemptively pardoned five members of his family. The former president did it in his last hours in office. He justified his decision by previous “attacks and threats” against the family. The politician also emphasized that his move should not be perceived as evidence of any offenses committed by those covered by the law of grace.
In his last hours in office, Joe Biden managed to pardon five members of his family on Monday. We are talking about his brothers James and Francis, sister Valerie, James's wife Sarah and Valerie's husband John Owens. The act of grace was issued preventively.
Biden justified the decision to pardon his relatives by the fact that his family had been the target of “attacks and threats” against him in the past. He stressed that this is the worst kind of policy and added that there is “no reason to think that these attacks will end.” The former president also emphasized that issuing a preventive act of grace does not prove any guilt of those subject to it.
Earlier, the White House announced that it was the decision of the outgoing president Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley and members of the investigative commission were preventively pardoned investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Donald Trump Many times during the campaign he suggested “holding to account” those who – in his opinion – “used the justice system as a weapon.” Although he claimed that he did not intend to take revenge on political opponents, he also said that the deputy head of the commission to investigate the events of January 6, Liz Cheney, should be put behind bars.
Joe Biden previously pardoned Hunter's son
Back in December, Biden, despite previous announcements, He pardoned his son Hunter. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter's case could come to a conclusion other than that he was persecuted simply because he is my son,” he said at the time. “By trying to break Hunter, they tried to break me, and there's no reason to think that's going to end there. Enough is enough,” Biden added, explaining his move.
Biden then granted a pardon not only for the crimes for which his son was prosecuted, but also for other cases of breaking the law that he may have committed between January 1, 2014 and December 1, 2024. Some experts question the constitutionality of such an act of mercy. Despite this, no court has yet commented on this matter.
Joe BidenMANDEL NGAN/PAP/EPA
Repeal of the death penalty
In his final hours in office, Biden also overturned the death penalty against American Indian Movement (AIM) activist Leonard Pertier, who was found guilty of murdering two FBI agents during a shooting on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota on June 26, 1975.
Main photo source: MANDEL NGAN/PAP/EPA