(DCNF)—Political analyst Mark Halperin explained Monday how former President Joe Biden’s pardons of his family members could harm them.
Biden pardoned his brothers Frank and James, James’ wife Sara Biden, his sister Valerie Owens and her husband, John Owens in one of his final acts as president. Halperin, on his “2WAY Presidential Inauguration Special,” noted that Biden’s sister Valerie has largely escaped “scrutiny” in the past but suggested the pardon may now put her under the spotlight.
“I’ll tell you an irony. The Clintons were worried that Donald Trump would prosecute them, and they didn’t. I don’t know that [President] Donald Trump would have. My guess is he wouldn’t have. He would not have asked his Justice Department to do it, and [Attorney General nominee] Pam Bondi wouldn’t have done it,” Halperin said. “And what this will do is revive interest in figuring out, particularly I think for Val, who has gotten favorable — she’s very nice, she’s great with reporters, she’s gotten almost no scrutiny.”
“Now there’s, I think, going to be reason to say, ‘Well, why’d Val get that?’ And so he may bring more damage to his family having done this, not because the courts [will] overturn it, but because questions will now be asked, at least by some,” he added.
The former president also pardoned his son Hunter in December after a Delaware jury convicted him on federal gun and tax charges. The pardons for Hunter and the former president’s five other family members all span back to 2014.
James was linked to Hunter’s overseas business operation, while Frank leveraged his brother’s inauguration in January 2021 to promote his law firm in Florida.
The former president said that his family members were victims of “the worst kind of partisan politics” in his statement announcing the pardon. He also issued preemptive pardons to former White House health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley and Jan. 6 Committee members during the last hours of his presidency, stating they do not deserve to be “targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.”
