(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Minutes before his presidency was over, Joe Biden issued blanket pardons to the rest of his family: his brother James and his wife, Sara; his sister, Valerie, and her husband, John Owens; and his brother Francis.
The pardons came as Biden and others stood at the U.S. Capitol to see Trump inaugurated. They followed other blanket pardons for Biden’s political allies, including former National Institutes for Health Director Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, and everyone on the Democrat-controlled Jan. 6th Commission. Biden’s pardon for his son, Hunter, came in early December.
Biden notably didn’t pardon himself—sparking online jokes, as well as some serious calls for Trump to immediately arrest him.
With just a few minutes left in his presidency, Joe Biden issues "a full and unconditional pardon" of his family.
You’ll notice James Biden’s name is listed here. pic.twitter.com/SvTboE47Hh
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) January 20, 2025
In a statement defending the pardons, which has since been removed from the White House website, Biden said his “family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics.”
“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,” he said in a statement.
The Biden family was investigated by the House Oversight Committee for the last two years for pedaling Joe’s influence in exchange for foreign payments.
Through bank records, interviews from some 30 witnesses, whistleblower accounts and millions of documents, House Republicans uncovered a years-long practice by Hunter Biden and his associates to solicit foreign business deals using the family’s proximity to power in Washington.
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) October 20, 2023
In May 2023, for instance, the Oversight Committee released records revealing that more than 20 companies, 12 banks and nine Biden relatives were used in an alleged complex money-laundering scheme.
Perhaps the most shocking revelation from the May records was that one of Biden’s grandchildren was allegedly used in this scheme.
“Most people’s grandchildren don’t get a wire from a foreign national,” Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said at the time.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
