Outgoing President Joe Biden issued a last-minute set of grants for clemency, which included members of his family, Democratic politicians and Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of killing two FBI agents in a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota — a charge that he has steadfastly denied.
Preliminary pardons were given to James B. Biden, the outgoing president's brother; Sara Jones Biden, James' wife; Valerie Biden Owens, the outgoing president's sister; John T. Owens, Valerie's husband; and Francis W. Biden, the outgoing president's brother. None of them have been charged with an offense, but Biden had been concerned that newly sworn-in President Donald Trump and his allies would go after them in a quest for vengeance.
“I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics,” Biden wrote. “But baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. 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.”
Due to Biden's commutation of his life sentence, Peltier, the Native American activist, will now be allowed to spend his remaining years in home confinement. While Peltier had admitted to participating in the shootout, he maintains that he did not kill the FBI agents and has released a stream of defiant letters to supporters from jail. Human rights watchdogs and activists, as well as numerous international figures like Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa, had advocated for clemency since his imprisonment, with many of them alleging that he is being wrongfully held as a political prisoner.
In a statement, Biden officials acknowledged the calls for clemency and Peltier's "advanced age, illnesses, his close ties to and leadership in the Native American community and the substantial length of time he has already spent in prison.”
Two other individuals — Gerald G. Lundergan and Ernest William Cromartie — were given an even greater prize: full pardons. Lundergan, a businessman and former Democratic state legislator in Kentucky, was convicted in 2019 of making illegal campaign contributions to his daughter's failed 2014 effort to unseat Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Cromartie, a former Democratic city council member in Columbia, South Carolina, was convicted of tax evasion.
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