Outgoing President Joe Biden holds the record for the most presidential pardons in just four years in the White House, having pardoned, granted clemency, or commuted the sentences of thousands of people since he took office in 2021, according to federal records.
Monday, just before President Donald Trump was sworn in, Biden added a list of preemptive pardons for several family members, stating that he is concerned that they would be targeted by "baseless and politically motivated investigations."
The pardons were announced in the minutes before Trump entered the Capitol rotunda to be sworn in, reported CNBC.
The pardons were for Biden's brother James Biden; James’ wife, Sara Jones Biden; his younger sister, Valerie Biden Owens; Owens’ husband, John Owens; and his other brother, Francis Biden.
"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," he said.
"My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics. Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end," Biden said in his announcement about pardoning his family members.
Biden also on Monday, before Trump was sworn in, issued pardons for Gerald Lundergan and Ernest William Cromartie and commuted the life sentence imposed on Native American activist Leonard Peltier:
- Lundergan, a former Democrat member of the Kentucky legislature, was convicted in 2019 of campaign violations for raising money for his daughter as she campaigned against Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
- Cromartie, city assemblyman from Columbia, South Carolina, pleaded guilty last spring to two counts of aggravated structuring and income tax evasion. He has served time in prison and has since been released.
- Peltier, now 80, is serving a life sentence in prison for the 1975 killings of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and for escaping from federal prison. Biden noted that Peltier has served almost 50 years in prison and the commutation will allow him to finish his sentence in home confinement, but does not pardon him for the crimes.
On Monday, he also pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci and those involved in the House Jan. 6 committee investigations preemptively to prevent President-elect Donald Trump from taking "revenge" against their actions.
Monday's other pardons included:
- Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci has faced criticism over his stance on COVID-19 vaccines and the pandemic's origins.
- Gen. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump's first term in office. He often criticized Trump, referring to him as a "wannabe dictator."
- Jan. 6 committee members, including Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.; Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.; and other members of the House committee.
Sunday, Biden pardoned or granted clemency to:
- Marcus Mosiah Garvey, pardoned posthumously. He was a Black nationalist convicted of mail fraud in the 1920s. His sentence was commuted in 1927 by President Calvin Coolidge.
- Ravi Ragbir, an advocate for immigrant rights.
- Kemba Smith Pradia, an advocate for criminal justice reform.
- Don Scott, who served seven years in prison for drug charges, became the first Black speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates last year. He was granted clemency.
In other notable pardons Biden has made while in office:
- Hunter Biden: The president's son received a blanket pardon for convictions on federal gun and tax violations, as well as any potential federal offense committed over a period of 11 years.
- Rita Crundwell: The former comptroller of Dixon, Illinois, was convicted of embezzling more than $53 million from the city.
- Jimmy Dimora: The former Cuyahoga County commissioner was convicted on 32 counts of bribery and public corruption in Ohio.
- Michael Conahan: The former Pennsylvania judge and another judge were convicted in 2011 for wrongly sending juveniles to for-profit detention centers in exchange for millions of dollars in illegal kickbacks.
- Paul Daugerdas: Convicted of overseeing fraudulent tax shelters, generating more than $7 billion in fraudulent deductions. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2014; Biden commuted his sentence.
- Jim Carlson: who ran a synthetic drug ring in Minnesota and was found guilty in 2013 on dozens of felony charges, with experts saying he sold enough synthetic drugs to cause a public health crisis. Sentence commuted in December as part of the 1,500 people who were released from prison and put on home confinement during the pandemic.
Biden has also granted several other mass pardons or commutations over the years, including in October 2022, when he declared that just over 6,500 people who had a federal criminal record for the possession of marijuana would be pardoned.
He also, in the weeks before leaving office:
- On Friday commuted the sentences of 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses.
- In December, commuted the sentences of 1,500 people who were released from prison and put on home confinement during the pandemic.
- Pardoned 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes in December.
- Commuted the sentences of 37 of 40 people on federal death row in December.
Trump has promised that Biden's order to commute the death row prisoners will be rolled back after he takes office.
Meanwhile, Trump, on his last full day in office in 2021, issued 74 pardons and 70 commutations, including some to political allies. He made no pardons to himself or any members of his family.