Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2025
January 20, 2025
I am issuing pardons to Gerald G. Lundergan and Ernest William Cromartie. I am also commuting the life sentence imposed on Leonard Peltier so that he serves the remainder of his sentence in home confinement.
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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.
I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. 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.
That is why I am exercising my power under the Constitution to pardon James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. 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.
NOTE: The statement referred to the President's brother James and his wife Sara, sister Valerie Biden Owens and her husband John Owens, and brother Francis.
Categories: Statements by the President : Pardons and commutations.
Names: Biden Owens, Valerie; Biden, Francis W.; Biden, James B.; Biden, Sara Jones; Cromartie, Ernest William; Lundergan, Gerald G.; Owens, John T.; Peltier, Leonard.
Subjects: Pardons and commutations.
DCPD Number: DCPD202500102.