Minutes before he leaves office, Biden pardons his siblings and their spouses
Last month, he pardoned his son Hunter for tax and gun crimes.
President Joe Biden has pardoned his siblings and their spouses, saying his family had 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.
The pardons, announced just minutes before Mr Biden left office, capped a slew of unprecedented presidential action by the Democrat.
Mr Biden also pardoned Dr Anthony Fauci, retired general Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the Capitol and allies who have been targeted by Republican Donald Trump.
It was a remarkable use of Mr Biden’s presidential power: None of those pardoned has been charged with any crime, and the move was designed to guard against possible retribution by his Republican successor.
Last month, Mr Biden pardoned his son Hunter for tax and gun crimes, despite previous pledges not to.
Mr Biden issued blanket pardons for his brother James and his wife, Sara; his sister, Valerie, and her husband, John Owens; and his brother Francis.
“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 offence,” he said in a statement.
The pardons came as Mr Biden and others stood at the US Capitol to see Mr Trump inaugurated.
House Republicans in June sent a letter to the Justice Department recommending the prosecution of Hunter and James Biden, accusing them of making false statements to Congress as part of a Republican impeachment inquiry.
James Biden’s lawyer at the time called it a “baseless partisan action”.
James Biden’s business dealings were heavily scrutinised by Republicans as part of their failed impeachment inquiry.
Republicans pointed to a series of payments that they claimed showed the president benefited from his brother’s work.
House Democrats defended the transaction, pointing to bank records they say indicate James Biden was repaying a loan provided by his brother, who had wire transferred 200,000 dollars to him about six weeks earlier.
The money changed hands while Joe Biden was a private citizen.
In a voluntary interview as part of the impeachment inquiry, James Biden said his brother “never had any involvement” in the business dealings of other members of his family.
Other presidents have pardoned family members. Bill Clinton pardoned his brother Roger for drug charges after he had served his sentence roughly a decade earlier.
In his final weeks in office, Mr Trump pardoned Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in law, Jared Kushner, as well as multiple allies convicted in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
