Biden’s Last-Minute Family Pardons Draw Widespread Bipartisan Disgust: ‘F*cking Grotesque’

Former President Joe Biden’s last-minute pardons of his family members drew outrage — and not just from MAGA Republicans, but from Democrats and Trump-critical conservatives as well.

In the final hours of his presidency, Biden released a statement announcing the pardons for his former Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci, former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, “the members and staff of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol,” which would include chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), and former Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), and “the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee,” like former D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone and former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn.

Biden then followed that up with a (literally) last-minute group of pardons in a statement released with less than half an hour left in his term, this time extending the presidential pardon power to shield members of his own family, whom he said had been targeted by “unrelenting attacks and threats” and “baseless and politically motivated investigations.”

“That is why I am exercising my power under the Constitution to pardon James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden,” wrote Biden in a statement issued after he had already arrived at the Capitol rotunda for President Donald Trump’s inauguration. “The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.”

These last-chance pardons follow Biden’s decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden, who had been convicted of federal tax evasion and gun charges, in early December. Notably missing from Biden’s pardon list were Special Counsel Jack Smith and the other federal prosecutors who worked on the criminal cases against Trump and retired Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, who testified against Trump in his first impeachment.

Biden’s pardon of his relatives sparked immediate reactions of shock and outrage. House Oversight Committee Rep. James Comer (R-KY) blasted the pardons as “a confession of their corruption.”

But even many of those who had supported Biden and then Vice President Kamala Harris against Trump condemned both the pardons and the secretive, last-minute timing of the announcement.

A CNN panel reacted with dismay to the news, discussing the pardons shortly after Trump was inaugurated.

Biden’s decision to pardon his family members “was in no small part, driven by Donald Trump’s public promise to appoint a special prosecutor to go after every member of the Biden family,” a source told CNN senior White House correspondent MJ Lee, a possibility the president found “incredibly worrisome.”

These final pardons were among several ways that Biden had “himself ended up tarnishing his own reputation in these final days in office,” Lee continued, including “reneging on his word to be a bridge candidate by seeking a second term” and the decision to pardon his son Hunter Biden “after repeatedly saying he wouldn’t.” She mentioned Biden’s December 2020 interview with Jake Tapper in which he was critical of the idea of preemptive pardons and called these last pardons as “another promise broken” and “a decision that is going to raise so many alarming questions about the legal precedence that this now sets.”

Anchor Anderson Cooper commented that the pardons for the Jan. 6 committee and others were issued earlier, making it “remarkable” how “these last minute pardons were clearly timed.”

“I mean, clearly they were signed before, but timed to be released after the car ride, once the final inauguration was beginning,” said Cooper.

“It very much felt like a ‘news dump’ of pardons,” agreed Alyssa Farah Griffin. “There was no way it would be good coverage around this.”

She added that while many might agree that government officials should be “inoculated” with pardons so they couldn’t be prosecuted for what they did in office, “this is much, much muddier” and “just underscores what so many in this country believe” about the accusations by Trump and his supporters against the Biden family.

These pardons “undercut” Biden’s legacy and the Democratic Party’s claim to run on “upholding democratic norms,” she concluded, and “puts Donald Trump in a stronger position of power.”

CNN chief national correspondent and anchor John King compared the Biden pardons to former President Bill Clinton “on his way to the Capitol” pardoning “this billionaire, Marc Rich, who was a fugitive.”

“It is just unseemly,” said King. “If you’re going to do it, have the courage to do it in the light of day and explain it to the American people. It’s a stain on his legacy to do it like this.” He acknowledged that Trump had “promised retribution” and it was arguable that these pardons were in fact “necessary,” but still criticized the timing. “If you’re the President of the United States who said the curse of Donald Trump was he didn’t respect democracy and didn’t respect norms, have the courage to look the American people in the eye and explain what you’re doing.”

“I mean, the way it was done suggests there was something wrong with doing it — he tried to slip it in the final minutes,” said Democratic political consultant and CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod. “It just made the whole thing look tawdry.”

Griffin also tweeted other harsh criticism of the pardons, writing that it was “an extraordinarily damaging way to leave office” that would “do immeasurable damage to public trust.”

“Nothing says ‘upholding Democratic norms’ like pardoning your entire family as you leave office,” Griffin added. “This is exactly why so many of us believe there are no ‘good guys’ in American politics.”

“I understand how unprecedented it is to have an incoming President who promises retribution against his political enemies,” wrote Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark. “But you cannot claim to be a guardian of democracy and do crap like this.”

Longwell’s colleague Tim Miller was far more blunt, calling the Biden family pardons “fucking grotesque.”

“Glad Biden’s brother gets a clean slate while the rest of us get the Trump shit sandwich,” Miller added.

A selection of other reactions:

Watch the clip above via CNN.