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.
