


In his final minutes as president, Joe Biden issued pardons to his two brothers, James and Francis, and his sister, Valerie, to protect them from what he predicts will be politically motivated attacks led by President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans.
“My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me—the worst kind of partisan politics,” Biden said in a statement. “Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.”
Biden used his presidential power to pardon five members of his immediate family: James, his wife Sara, Valerie, her husband John Owens, and Francis. The outgoing president said the 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.”
Earlier Monday, Biden issued preemptive pardons to Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, and the lawmakers and staff who served on the January 6 committee to prevent his successor from enacting retribution against his political opponents.
Biden set the presidential record for most individuals pardons and commutations. On Friday, he reduced the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. And last month, he converted the sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Trump vowed to “vigorously pursue the death penalty” following Biden’s commutations.