Former President Joe Biden pardoned us on Monday in one of his final official acts. He granted protective or “preemptive” pardons. Dr. Anthony Fauci and General Mark A. Milleyand pardon The award was given to members of Congress who served on the special committee on January 6th, their staff members, and Washington, D.C. and Capitol Police officers who testified before the committee.
And to the dismay of almost everyone, he pardoned five family membersincluding his brother James B. Biden and his wife Sarah Jones Biden. his sister, Valerie Biden Owens and her husband, John T. Owens; and his brother Francis W. Biden.
The Fauci, Milley, and January 6th pardons are reasonable and predictable. The White House has been hinting for weeks that they could be coming. Like Hunter Biden's pardon, these are unprecedented in American history: a winning presidential candidate using the full power of the Justice Department and the Oval Office to exact revenge on those he considers his enemies. It was a reaction to his candidacy based on a pledge. .
Hunter Biden was already under a criminal investigation by a federal prosecutor in Delaware on Trump's watch during President Trump's first term. After his father took office, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special prosecutor to handle the investigation, which resulted in indictments in two jurisdictions, one jury verdict, and one guilty plea. Prosecutors say the most serious crimes they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt include illegally failing to pay taxes (later paid back with interest), lying on a gun application about being a drug addict, and then committing crimes in the days following. It was determined that he was in possession of a firearm.
The president's pardon for his son is an acknowledgment that any further investigation into Hunter Biden would amount to retaliatory harassment because Trump's own Justice Department had found nothing else to indict against him. These crimes occurred during a relapse of addiction following the tragic death of his brother Beau from a brain tumor, and that these relatively picayune charges were committed against ordinary defendants who are not the president's son. Considering it was never brought up, a pardon for the younger Biden is also likely eligible. Within the traditional and historical justification for pardon, that is, mercy.
But other pardons from the Biden family are far less defensible.
The family pardon covers “nonviolent crimes against the United States that a family member may have committed or participated in between January 1, 2014 and the date of this pardon.” In the accompanying statement: Mr. Biden said: The family issued the pardon out of concern that “baseless and politically motivated investigations will wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and economic security of the targeted individuals and their families.” It is said that there is.
Biden conducted himself well internally. Supreme Court and historical precedents It is the granting of amnesty for crimes that have not yet been prosecuted or investigated. President Gerald Ford famously pardoned President Richard Nixon for every crime he may have committed while in office, without specifying any crimes, even though he was under criminal investigation and indictment. be. reportedly ready.
But more than that, the pardon for his family is worrisome.
There is no doubt that Mr. Biden was concerned about his brother James's involvement in the failed House Republican impeachment inquiry. Although Republicans have found no impeachable conduct against Biden, the effort leaves Congress open about the former president's meeting with business associate Tony Bobulinski during their pursuit of James Biden and Hunter Biden. The Justice Department has recommended criminal charges against James Biden for making false statements. Contract with Chinese company.
James Biden testified that his brother Joe never met Bobulinski. Congressional Republicans say that was a lie. Hunter Biden testified that his father “went over to shake Tony's hand” and told him about a Bobulinsky relative who had cancer. Bobulinski also reportedly produced text messages showing he was present at a meeting at the Beverly Hills Hilton on May 3, 2017, when Joe Biden was in Los Angeles for a conference.
House Republicans also seized two interest-free loans that James Biden obtained from his brother, one for $40,000 and one for $200,000. Both were repaid, but Republicans found the lack of documentation suspicious, especially since James had received $200,000 from the health insurance company he worked for during his brother's terms as vice president and president. did. The money came almost simultaneously with the loan.
If James Biden committed perjury, that would be a serious problem. If there were other crimes in this combination, Republicans in Congress did not identify them.
Biden's preemptive pardon to cover up potential wrongdoing involving himself is unlike any other. This would put him in line with Trump at the end of his first term. At the time, Trump was roundly attacked as follows: pardon The cronies of Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and others were involved in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election — and likely testified against Mueller. It was probably to take away the motivation to do so. Even worse, a future criminal-minded criminal president could pre-empt those around him from committing crimes on his behalf, knowing that the Supreme Court has already absolved him of his criminal acts. This will pave the way for a pardon.
Biden's reasons for pardoning the other four family members have not been publicly disclosed. But it ignores the countless people involved in the Trump investigation, including the other witnesses on the January 6th Committee, as well as the Manhattan judges, witnesses, jurors and their families who brought the successful investigation and verdict against Trump. However, the fact that he defended himself is an insult. To those who upheld the rule of law at their own risk.
The power of pardon has always been at risk of serious abuse. The framers of the Constitution knew this when they saw the corruption of the British king. It was included in the Constitution anyway, based on the theory that, as Alexander Hamilton argued, presidents use their power as “bearers of government's benevolence.”
Biden's disregard for this principle at the heart of his pardon power in the waning days of his presidency is a sad footnote to an already shaky legacy.
kimberly wale I'm the author of a new book “Pardon Power: How the Pardon System Works and Why”
