Joe Biden’s last executive act was to pardon five of his loved ones mere minutes before Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony commenced on Monday.
The pardons, issued while all eyes were on Trump and those arriving for his big day, are for James B. Biden; his brother who is accused of making false statements to Congress; Sara Jones Biden, his sister-in-law; Valerie Biden Owens; his younger sister; John T. Owens; his brother-in-law; and Francis W. Biden, his brother.
Biden, 82, said he made the decision because he fears political “attacks” against him and his loved ones will not end after he bows out of office.
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“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” Biden wrote. “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 said his pardon should not be “mistaken as an acknowledgement” that his siblings and their spouses “engaged in any wrongdoing.”
James, 75, is the Biden sibling most likely at risk of criminal prosecution from the Trump administration. He has been accused of lying to Congress to protect his elder brother during the failed impeachment inquiry into him.
House Republicans sent criminal referrals for James and the former president’s son, Hunter Biden, in June. Hunter was pardoned by Biden on Dec. 1, shielding him from prosecution over the lying allegations and on unrelated charges.
With Hunter out of the picture, MAGA lawmakers have refocused on James—a former insurance broker and political consultant who was his brother’s chief fundraiser for his 1972 Senate campaign.
Rep. James Comer, the Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to Trump’s attorney general nominee last week that encouraged her to “hold James Biden accountable for lying to Congress to protect his brother.” That probe is now dead before it could ever get started.
