In yet another controversial move, President Joe Biden extended the shield of executive power to guard his kin. Dispensing pardons to multiple family members, Biden leveraged his constitutional authority in the name of protecting his relatives from what he claims to be ‘incessant partisan attacks.’ These operations, according to Biden, had one sole intent — to inflict harm on him.
There is no light on the horizon that promises an end to these alleged attacks, as per the President. As such, he decided to take a preemptive step to supposedly put an end to the onslaught. Under his executive power, Biden granted pardons to James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden.
These names include Joe Biden’s younger brother James, his wife Sara Jones, Joe’s younger sister Valerie, her husband John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden, another younger brother of Biden. Blatantly favoring his family, Biden announced these pardons while in the Capitol Rotunda during President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. Instead of focusing on the future of the country, Biden chose to secure the future of his family members.
In his defense, Biden claims that he stands by the rule of law. He asserts an optimistic outlook towards the capability of legal institutions to prevail over political warfare. Yet he fails to acknowledge that his actions undermine the very rule of law that he claims to uphold.
Biden’s speech carried an overarching narrative that politically-instigated investigations bring chaos in the lives of targeted individuals and their families. He overlooked the fact that if a person in a position of political power has used that power wrongfully, then an investigation to ensure justice is not detrimental but necessary. The impact on reputation and finance, if wrongly investigated, are unacceptable, but the solution surely isn’t the abuse of presidential power.
Biden twice reiterated that the pardons should not be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any wrongdoing. But one may wonder, if his family members were clean of any wrongdoing, why did they need the pardons in the first place? Such contradictions only fuel more questions about the moral rectitude of the pardons.
Shrouded in irony is the fact that on one hand, Biden exercised his presidential powers to pardon his family members, while on the other hand, he controversially pardoned his son Hunter Biden for tax evasion and federal gun charges. Despite his repeated assertions that he had no plans to pardon Hunter, he did, which only raises the question of the validity of his claims.
James Biden, Joe’s brother, has drawn considerable attention from Republicans for his actions. Congressional Republicans were eager for the incoming Justice Department to impose charges against James for allegedly lying to Congress during the impeachment inquiry into the outgoing President and his family.
James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, took the initiative to hold James Biden accountable. He accused James Biden of misleading Congress regarding Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s influence peddling. He pushed for James Biden’s prosecution under federal law for such actions.
Already, a criminal referral for James Biden had been made by Comer and his Republican colleagues to the Justice Department. Comer responded to the preemptive pardons by pointing out that they served as a confession of their corruption.
Showcasing blatant favoritism, Biden signed a pardon warrant on January 19 to excuse James Biden and other family members from any nonviolent offenses against the United States from January 1, 2014, to the date of this pardon. It appears that the outgoing President extended his scope of power beyond its constitutional purpose for personal gains.
This was not a standalone case too; Biden had previously issued multiple anticipatory pardons as a parting act. Such pardons are not uncommon for a departing President, but the nature and implications of these pardons resulted in a cloud of controversy surrounding his final hours in office.
Overstepping the conventional norms, Biden extended pardons to potential targets of the forthcoming Trump administration. The list included Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, and lawmakers who served on the House January 6 committee.
In his statement, Biden tried to drape his actions under the cloak of guardian of public servants. He labeled them as ‘the lifeblood of our democracy,’ yet his very actions of pardoning them for any potential wrongdoing contradict his ringing endorsements.
Biden’s comment on public servants’ intimidation and threats for performing their duties raises concerns. This administration’s deeds reflect a pattern of stepping out of constitutional boundaries for personal interests, thus making his stance on upholding public interest questionable.