Biden pardons family members fearing Trump's reprisals
In the final minutes of his presidency, Joe Biden pardoned five family members. In a statement, he asserted that he did so not because they had done anything wrong, but because he "feared political attacks from the incoming President, Donald J. Trump".
"My family has been subjected to relentless attacks and threats, driven solely by the desire to harm me. It is the worst kind of partisan politics," said Joe Biden in his final statement as President.
"Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe that these attacks will cease," he added, as quoted by The New York Times.
According to Biden's decision, his brothers Francis W. Biden and James B. Biden, James’s wife Sara Jones Biden, his sister Valerie Biden Owens, and her husband John T. Owens have been pardoned.
The White House announced the pardons less than 20 minutes before the end of Joe Biden's term, after he had already entered the Capitol to participate in Trump's inauguration.
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