 "US President Joe Biden. File image/AP")
Outgoing President Joe Biden issued a pardon for five members of his family in his last moments in office.
Those pardoned are his two brothers James and Francis. Also on the list are Sara, the wife of James Biden, Biden’s sister Valerie and her husband John.
In a statement, Biden said, that his family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, “motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end,” he said in a statement.
“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.”
Alongside preemptively pardoning these family members, Biden also commuted the life sentence imposed on Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who has served nearly five decades in federal prison for the 1975 killings of two FBI agents. Peltier will serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement.
Biden’s previous pardons
In December 2024, Biden had issued a pardon for his son Hunter; that was a U-turn from his prior statements where he said that “I abide by the jury’s decision. I will do that, and I will not pardon him.”
Hunter was convicted last year in a federal criminal gun trial, and he had pleaded guilty to charges in a separate federal case related to tax crimes.
Shortly after that, Biden had also set the record for commuting the most number of sentences in a day when he cut short the punishment of nearly 2,500 people in the US.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe outgoing president said those receiving clemency had received lengthy sentences based on now-discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, which have disproportionately impacted the Black community.
With inputs from agencies