OPINION: Biden’s corrupt clemency: Pardons that protect allies, block justice

President Joe Biden’s final hours in office will be remembered for their effrontery. He issued sweeping, preemptive, blanket pardons for his son Hunter and five family members: his brother James and sister-in-law Sara, his sister Valerie and brother-in-law John, and his brother Francis. These pardons shielded them from any legal scrutiny -- not just for Hunter’s known tax and gun charges, but also for financial improprieties suspected throughout the family, including $24 million funneled through more than 20 shell companies and newly revealed ties to a $60 million fraud scheme.

Biden justified these actions as a response to “unrelenting political attacks,” but their scope set a dangerous precedent for executive overreach. Notably, the scope of Hunter’s pardon, covering any and all offenses dating back to January 2014, coincides with the first payments to the Biden family business. This overlap raises serious questions about Biden’s motives.

Biden didn’t stop with his family. He also pardoned political allies like Gen. Mark Milley and members of the January 6th Committee, none of whom faced charges. These blanket pardons, described as protection against "politically motivated attacks," stretched clemency’s limits and raised alarms about abuse. While such pardons may be technically legal, their use in this context veers dangerously close to transforming the pardon power into a political shield for allies and family members alike.

Biden’s actions undermine the very principles he once claimed to champion. During a 2020 CNN interview, Biden criticized former President Donald Trump’s rumored consideration of preemptive pardons for allies, warning about the precedent they would set. “You’re not going to see in our administration that kind of approach to pardons,” Biden said. That promise didn’t age well.

Critics have rightfully condemned these pardons. Jonah Goldberg called them “reckless, spiteful and incandescently stupid,” noting that Biden has set dangerous precedents for the very successor he described as a threat to democracy. David Bahnsen declared Biden’s sweeping family pardons “the most corrupt thing ever done by any president,” eclipsing even Watergate or Andrew Johnson’s infamous abuses. Buck Sexton observed the grim irony: “Trump was impeached for bringing up Biden family corruption. Today, Biden pardoned his family for criminal corruption.” The contrast is stark: One president was punished for asking questions, while the other escaped accountability altogether.

Further compounding the issue is the question of why certain individuals even needed pardons. Dr. Anthony Fauci claimed, “I’ve committed no crime,” yet still accepted Biden’s pardon, which retroactively covered actions as far back as 2014 -- years before COVID-19 emerged. Donald Trump Jr. highlighted the contradiction, saying, “If he did nothing wrong, be a man and turn it down.” The willingness to accept such broad legal protection while proclaiming innocence only deepens public doubt and undermines trust in the process.

Biden’s sweeping use of clemency also underscores the hypocrisy of his party. House Democrats, including Adam Schiff, previously condemned Trump’s pardon of Roger Stone as an “abuse of power” and vowed to prevent similar actions. Schiff argued that pardons should “right a wrong or provide deserved leniency,” yet Biden’s last-minute pardons of family and allies contradict that standard, shielding them from potential scrutiny without any formal charges.

The damage from Biden’s actions demands a response. First, we should consider a constitutional amendment that restricts presidential pardons during the final 90 days of a term. Such a measure would introduce political accountability and deter last-minute abuses of power.

Second, Biden’s evident cognitive decline raises another issue: Are actions taken by a president lacking full mental faculties legally binding? Congress should vote to void the pardons and allow the Supreme Court to determine Biden’s competence. If the elderly can be prohibited from signing contracts because of diminished capacity, how much more so the president and executive actions?

Biden’s pardon of Fauci, the first government scientist to receive such protection, becomes even more troubling in light of the CIA’s recent revelation -- days after Fauci was pardoned -- that the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a Chinese lab. Fauci’s funding of such research and lobbying the CIA, State Department and White House to dismiss the lab-leak theory raise serious questions. Notably, U.S. funding for gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab began in 2014, the same year Fauci’s blanket pardon started. Biden’s pardon cements Fauci’s role and ensures accountability will never happen.

These actions have the air of desperation to them, fending off more than alleged "political attacks" as Biden claimed. They not only set a perilous precedent for future administrations but also spotlight the easy abuse of executive power, a weaponization of clemency that should restore justice, not shield corruption.

Courtney served 20 years as a nuclear engineering officer aboard submarines and 15 years as a graduate school instructor. A political independent, he spends his time chasing his eight grandchildren around Moscow.