President Biden pardons brother James, other relatives for unspecified crimes before leaving office
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden pardoned his brother James Biden and other relatives Monday for unspecified crimes, a similar last-minute move to protect his family from potential investigation as when he pardoned his son Hunter Biden for gun and tax convictions.
The president said he pardoned his brother and other relatives − James's wife Sara Jones Biden, sister Valerie Biden Owens and her husband John Owens, and another brother, Francis Biden − because of concerns about “baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families,” he said in a statement released minutes before the end of his term.
“Even when individuals have done nothing wrong and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage their reputations and finances,” Biden said.
James Biden arrives at the federal court for Hunter Biden's trial on criminal gun charges, in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 10, 2024.
House Republicans investigated James Biden as part of an impeachment inquiry against the president. House Republicans urged the Justice Department to charge James Biden criminally for making allegedly false statements to lawmakers.
But the Republican report on the impeachment inquiry – from committees on Oversight and Accountability, Judiciary and Ways and Means – didn’t recommend specific charges against the president and lawmakers didn’t vote on articles of impeachment. The Justice Department hasn’t charged James Biden.
The impeachment inquiry’s allegations against James Biden alleged that he benefitted financially in foreign business deals from trading on his brother’s name. The report also called his repayment of undocumented loans to the president “alarming.”
Joe Biden and the White House maintained that the president wasn’t involved in his brother’s or son’s business deals, and didn’t benefit from them.
Tony Bobulinski, a former Hunter Biden business associate, speaks during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing as part of the House of Republicans' impeachment probe into U.S. President Joe Biden, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 20, 2024.
What does the lying accusation against James Biden allege?
The allegation about making a false statement focused on James Biden telling lawmakers that the president never met with a business associate, Tony Bobulinski, while the president’s brother and son were pursuing a deal with a Chinese company, CEFC China Energy.
But Bobulinski produced text messages and Hunter Biden testified that Joe Biden attended the meeting May 3, 2017, at the Beverly Hills Hilton. Hunter and James Biden were meeting with Bobulinski over coffee in the hotel lobby bar, according to Hunter Biden, and Joe Biden was in Los Angeles to speak at the annual Milken Institute’s conference.
“My dad went and shook hands with Tony,” Hunter Biden testified, and the two talked about a relative of Bobulinski’s who had cancer.
But James Biden denied going into the hotel or meeting with Joe Biden and Bobulinski.
“Absolutely not,” James Biden testified.
“I remember that my brother had a speaking engagement at the hotel,” James Biden testified. “I never went into the hotel with my brother.”
House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., whispers into the ear of House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., before a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing as part of the House of Republicans' impeachment probe into President Joe Biden, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 20, 2024.
What was the issue with loans from Joe Biden to James Biden?
House Republicans tracked how millions of dollars flowed to Joe Biden’s relatives from foreign business deals. A $200,000 payment from James Biden to his brother caught the eye of lawmakers.
James Biden testified he had two interest-free loans from his brother, one for $40,000 and one for $200,000, to pay outstanding bills in years between his brother serving as vice president and president.
The lack of documentation about the loans “is alarming,” the impeachment report said.
James Biden got the $40,000 loan in July 2017 and repaid it in September 2017, he testified. He got the $200,000 loan in January 2018 and repaid it in March with a check marked “loan repayment,” he testified.
The larger payment occurred the same day James Biden received $200,000 from Americore Health LLC, a health care company he worked with in 2017 and 2018 before it went bankrupt, according to investigators.
James Biden testified he worked with Americore – between the times his brother served as vice president and president – to identify struggling rural hospitals that could begin treating veterans more quickly than the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He was paid a total of $600,000 by Americore, which later went bankrupt. Carol Fox, a bankruptcy trustee for Americore, testified she couldn’t document what James Biden did to earn the money so she sued him to recover it and he settled by repaying $350,000.
“What those services were, yeah, I don’t . . . I can’t say specifically,” Fox testified.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: President Biden pardons brother James to shield him from investigation
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