President Trump on Monday blasted former President Biden for signing preemptive pardons for his family members just moments before his term in office ended.

“Did you know that Biden, while I was making my speech, pardoned his whole family?” Mr. Trump told supporters at the Capital One Arena. “The brother, the whole deal, was pardoned. Can you imagine that, while I was making my speech?”

Mr. Trump said his aides stopped him from making his inaugural address “tough” and told him not to include remarks about Mr. Biden’s decision to pardon his family members. 

Mr. Trump later appeared to contradict himself, saying that he didn’t learn about the pardons until he finished his remarks at the Capitol.

“Can you believe it? He’s pardoned — you know why he did it while I was speaking? Because that way I couldn’t speak about it,” Mr. Trump said. “I said, ‘Oh can I go back out there and talk about it?’ Somehow that wouldn’t be very elegant.” 

Mr. Trump then joked that first lady Melania Trump would have told him, “Please don’t do that” if he had pitched the idea of talking about the Biden family pardons to her.

“We have plenty of time to talk about it, and we will,” he said. 

In the final minutes of his presidency, Mr. Biden issued preemptive pardons to his younger brother James Biden, his wife Sara Jones Biden, his younger sister, Valerie Biden Owens and her husband John T. Owens, and his other brother Francis W. Biden. Congressional Republicans have long asserted that at least some of Mr. Biden’s family profited from influence peddling while he served in government.

Late last year, he pardoned his son Hunter for any crimes committed over the previous 10 years. Hunter Biden faced sentencing in federal court for convictions on tax evasion and gun violations.

The new pardons were announced while Mr. Biden was sitting in the Capitol Rotunda attending Mr. Trump’s inauguration. 

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.