Outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden, in his final act in office, issued pardons to several of his family members, according to an AP report.
Biden granted pardons to his siblings and their spouses, stating that 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 added.
The pardons include his brothers, James and Francis Biden, as well as Sara, the wife of James Biden. Biden’s sister, Valerie, and her husband, John, were also pardoned.
Before departing the White House, President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted for the 1975 killings of two FBI agents.
According to AP, Peltier had been denied parole as recently as July and was not eligible for parole again until 2026. He had been serving a life sentence for the deaths of the agents during a standoff at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. In a statement, Biden announced that Peltier would transition to home confinement.
Biden pardons govt officials
Earlier in the day, Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons to prominent government officials whom Donald Trump has threatened to punish, shielding them from potential retribution by his successor, who has labeled them as political adversaries.
Among those pardoned are retired General Mark Milley, infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, and members of Congress and staff who served on the select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The committee had recommended that Trump be prosecuted for his role in the insurrection.
The pardons include Liz Cheney, a former Republican congresswoman from Wyoming who played a leading role in the investigation, and Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who also led the prosecution in Trump’s first impeachment trial, according to Bloomberg.
Representative Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, chaired the panel. Former Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, along with Cheney, were the only Republicans on the committee.