Joe Biden

He pardoned his own son for nearly 11 years of possible federal offenses

On December 1, 2024 Biden granted his son Hunter “a full and unconditional pardon” for any federal offenses committed “during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024,” a span of nearly 11 years. Biden's statement says it covers the gun and tax cases against him. The special counsel who brought those cases wrote in his final report: “The President's characterizations are incorrect based on the facts in this case, and, on a more fundamental level, they are wrong.”

Their response: Biden: “I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department's decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.” He wrote that Hunter “was singled out only because he is my son.”

Sources: Biden's statement and the pardon text (White House archive) · Justice Department clemency list · Special Counsel Weiss's final report (Jan. 2025)

Pre-emptive pardons for five family members as he left office

5 relatives

In a statement dated January 20, 2025, his last day in office, Biden pardoned five members of his family (James B. Biden, Sara Jones Biden, Valerie Biden Owens, John T. Owens, and Francis W. Biden) for “any nonviolent offenses” they may have committed since January 1, 2014. The Justice Department's list shows no conviction or sentence for any of them.

Their response: Biden: “My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me.” He wrote that the pardons “should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that they engaged in any wrongdoing.”

Sources: Biden's statement (White House archive) · Justice Department clemency list

Special counsel “uncovered evidence” he willfully kept and disclosed classified material; not enough to charge

Special Counsel Robert Hur reported in February 2024 that his investigation “uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” including marked classified documents about Afghanistan; FBI agents recovered the materials from the garage, offices, and basement den of his Delaware home. Hur concluded that “no criminal charges are warranted” and that “the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” adding that he would reach the same conclusion even without the policy against charging a sitting president.

Sources: Special Counsel Hur's report (Justice Department)

On his last morning he announced pardons for Fauci, Milley and the Jan. 6 committee, none of whom had been charged

On the morning of Jan. 20, 2025, hours before leaving office, Biden announced pre-emptive pardons for Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, the members and staff of the House Jan. 6 committee and the police officers who testified to it; the Justice Department’s list dates the warrants Jan. 19. None had been charged with a crime. The AP wrote that he had used the pardon power “in the broadest and most untested way possible: to pardon those who have not even been investigated,” and that the step “lays the groundwork for an even more expansive use of pardons by Trump.” Trump declared the committee pardons “VOID” in March 2025 because an autopen signed them; legal scholars consulted by PolitiFact agreed there is no mechanism to undo a granted pardon, and NBC News reported in March 2026, citing a person briefed on the matter, that the Justice Department had shelved its autopen inquiry, which never went to a grand jury.

Their response: Biden: “The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.” Fauci told ABC: “I have committed no crime ... and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me.”

Sources: Justice Department, Pardons Granted by President Joseph Biden (2021-2025) · AP via PBS News (Jan. 20, 2025) · PolitiFact via PBS News (Mar. 18, 2025) · NBC News (Mar. 4, 2026)

Mass clemency ended the sentences of the “kids for cash” judge and a $54 million embezzler

About 1,500 commutations in one day

On Dec. 12, 2024 Biden commuted the sentences of about 1,500 people who had been moved from prison to home confinement during the pandemic, the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. The group included Michael Conahan, the former Pennsylvania judge convicted of taking kickbacks for sending juveniles to for-profit detention centers, whose home confinement was to run until 2026, and Rita Crundwell, who pleaded guilty to embezzling about $54 million from the city of Dixon, Illinois, and was to be confined until 2028. Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, said Biden “got it absolutely wrong and created a lot of pain here in northeastern Pennsylvania.” On Dec. 23 Biden also commuted 37 of the 40 federal death sentences to life without parole.

Their response: Biden: “America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances.” A Biden administration official told CNN the commutations were not individual decisions but a uniform one for people who met set criteria, such as good behavior on house arrest (CNN paraphrase).

Sources: AP via PBS News (Dec. 12, 2024) · CNN (Dec. 13, 2024) · The Guardian (Dec. 14, 2024) · NBC Chicago (Dec. 12, 2024) · AP via PBS News (Dec. 23, 2024)

House Republicans called his autopen-signed pardons void; the Justice Department inquiry was shelved

The Republican-led House Oversight Committee issued a staff report on Oct. 28, 2025 asserting that aides hid Biden’s decline and that executive actions signed by autopen without documented approval, including last-days pardons, are void; it referred his physician and two aides, all of whom had invoked the Fifth Amendment, to the Justice Department. The AP reported that the report “does not include any concrete evidence that aides conspired to enact policies without Biden’s knowledge.” Trump ordered an investigation in June 2025 and in November declared autopen-signed Biden documents “terminated.” NBC News reported on March 4, 2026 that the Justice Department had shelved its inquiry: it never went to a grand jury, and a person briefed on it said there was no readily applicable criminal statute.

Their response: Biden, June 2025: “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.” Oversight Committee Democrats called the probe a distraction and a waste of time (AP paraphrase).

Sources: House Oversight Committee (Republican majority) release on staff report (Oct. 28, 2025) · AP via PBS News (Oct. 28, 2025) · NBC News (Mar. 4, 2026) · NBC News (June 4, 2025) · CNN (Nov. 28, 2025)

House GOP impeachment report: $27 million to family and associates, no foreign money shown reaching Biden, no vote

$27M to family and associates, 2014 to 2023 (House Republican count)

Three Republican-led House committees (Oversight, Judiciary, Ways and Means) reported on Aug. 19, 2024 that subpoenaed bank records showed Biden relatives and their companies received over $18 million from foreign sources between 2014 and 2023, and over $27 million when business associates are counted, from people and entities tied to Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, China, Romania and Panama. The 291-page report proposed no articles of impeachment and, in the AP’s words, “stops short of alleging any criminal wrongdoing by the president”; ABC News found it offered “few, if any, instances of Joe Biden himself being directly and knowingly involved in illegal or improper activities.” The payments to Joe Biden that it documented were two checks from his brother’s household, for $200,000 and $40,000, marked as loan repayments and written while he was out of office (see the James Biden entry). No article of impeachment was ever brought to a House vote.

Their response: White House spokesperson Sharon Yang, to VOA: “After wasting nearly two years and millions of taxpayer dollars, House Republicans have finally given up on their wild goose chase.” Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on House Oversight, said in June 2024 the inquiry had ended in “spectacular failure and collapse” (CNN). Hunter Biden associate Rob Walker testified that Joe Biden “was never involved” in their business (ABC News).

Sources: House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees, Republican majority report (Aug. 19, 2024) · House Oversight Committee (Republican majority) release (Aug. 19, 2024) · AP via PBS News (Aug. 19, 2024) · ABC News (Aug. 19, 2024) · VOA (Aug. 19, 2024)

Son’s partner: Biden joined about 20 speakerphone calls; a 2017 email set “10 held by H for the big guy”

$5M CEFC affiliate wire to a Hunter Biden firm (House Republican report)

Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, told House investigators on July 31, 2023 that over their 10-year partnership Hunter put his father on speakerphone “maybe 20 times” in front of business contacts, that the talk was pleasantries and never business, and that what Hunter delivered was “the brand”; asked whether Hunter was selling “the illusion of access to his father,” he answered “Yes,” then called that framing “almost fair,” and said he knew of no wrongdoing by Joe Biden. A 2017 email from associate James Gilliar about a venture with the Chinese energy firm CEFC, written when Biden was out of office, proposed “10 held by H for the big guy?”; partner Tony Bobulinski testified that meant Joe Biden, and FactCheck.org noted the final draft agreement made no mention of him. On July 30, 2017 Hunter messaged a CEFC associate, “I am sitting here with my father and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled”; the House Republican report says a CEFC affiliate wired $5 million to a company he co-owned nine days later. National Archives photos released in December 2024 show Biden meeting his son’s Chinese partners during an official 2013 trip. No record shows money from these deals reaching Joe Biden, and CNN wrote that there “isn’t evidence” for the Republican claim that the two were in business together. Trump pardoned Archer in March 2025.

Their response: Hunter Biden, in his February 2024 deposition: “My father was not sitting next to me. My father had no awareness. My father had no awareness of the business that I was doing. My father never benefited from any of the business that I was doing.” Gilliar, to the Wall Street Journal in 2020 (quoted by FactCheck.org): “I am unaware of any involvement at anytime of the former vice president. The activity in question never delivered any project revenue.” A White House spokesperson, to CNN in December 2024: “House Republicans already wasted years and millions of taxpayer dollars proving that the President was not in business with his son.”

Sources: House Oversight Committee, transcribed interview of Devon Archer (July 31, 2023) · House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees, Republican majority report (Aug. 19, 2024) · FactCheck.org (Dec. 14, 2023) · CNN, on the Hunter Biden deposition transcript (Feb. 29, 2024) · CNN, on the 2013 China trip photos (Dec. 28, 2024) · CBS News, on the Archer pardon (March 2025)

51 ex-intelligence officials cast laptop story as Russian; organizer said a Biden campaign call set it off

On Oct. 19, 2020, five days after the New York Post reported on emails from Hunter Biden’s laptop, 51 former intelligence officials signed a statement that the story had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation,” while saying they did not know whether the emails were genuine and had no evidence of Russian involvement; Biden cited it in the debate three days later. Former acting CIA director Michael Morell testified to House Republicans in 2023 that a call from campaign adviser Antony Blinken, later Biden’s secretary of state, triggered his decision to organize the statement (“Yes. Absolutely.”) and that he did it “Because I wanted him to win the election”; Morell denied that the campaign asked him to write it. A forensic review commissioned by CBS News in 2022 found “no evidence that the user data had been modified, fabricated or tampered with.” The statement and the testimony are on the record; that the campaign orchestrated the statement is the Republican committees’ conclusion. In January 2025 Trump ordered the security clearances of the 49 surviving signers revoked.

Their response: Blinken, through his lawyer, denied asking Morell to write the statement, according to the committees’ own report, which adds that he “did not dispute that his communication was the impetus.” The statement itself said: “we do not know if the emails provided to the New York Post by President Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement.”

Sources: House Judiciary, Weaponization Subcommittee and Intelligence Committee, Republican interim staff report (May 10, 2023) · House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, second Republican interim report (June 25, 2024) · CBS News, forensic review of the laptop data (Nov. 21, 2022) · AP via PBS News (Jan. 22, 2025)

Special counsel: a Romanian tycoon paid Hunter Biden’s group $3 million to sway U.S. agencies in 2015-17

$3M+ to Hunter Biden and two partners, 2015 to 2017 (prosecutors)

In an August 2024 court filing ahead of Hunter Biden’s tax trial, Special Counsel David Weiss, working inside President Biden’s own Justice Department, said he would show that Hunter Biden and a business associate “received compensation from a foreign principal who was attempting to influence U.S. policy and public opinion” for Gabriel Popoviciu, a Romanian businessman facing a corruption case at home, and that the two “were concerned that lobbying work might cause political ramifications for the defendant’s father,” then the vice president, so the arrangement “concealed the true nature of the work.” Prosecutors said Hunter Biden and two partners split more than $3 million from Popoviciu between November 2015 and 2017. ABC News called it the closest prosecutors had come to tying the president to his son’s overseas business; the filing accused Joe Biden of nothing, the case charged only tax offenses, and the December 2024 pardon covers any federal offense from 2014 on.

Their response: Hunter Biden’s lawyers called the assertion “irrelevant and politically charged” and wrote: “The Special Counsel’s unnecessary change of tactic merely echoes the baseless and false allegations of foreign wrongdoing which have been touted by House Republicans to use Mr. Biden’s proper business activities in Romania and elsewhere to attack him and his father.”

Sources: ABC News (Aug. 11, 2024) · CNN, on the scope of the pardon (Dec. 28, 2024)

Diplomats warned his office his son’s Burisma seat was a conflict; GOP report could not show it moved policy

As vice president Biden was, in a phrase the Senate report quotes, the “public face of the administration’s handling of Ukraine” while his son sat on the board of the gas company Burisma, and in January 2018 he recounted telling Ukraine’s leaders that a $1 billion loan guarantee would be withheld unless prosecutor Viktor Shokin was removed: “Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.” A September 2020 Senate Republican staff report found that diplomat George Kent raised the appearance of a conflict with Biden’s office in early 2015 and later wrote that the board seat “was very awkward for all U.S. officials pushing an anticorruption agenda in Ukraine,” and that envoy Amos Hochstein raised it with Biden directly; the report says the warnings went unaddressed. The same report concluded: “The extent to which Hunter Biden’s role on Burisma’s board affected U.S. policy toward Ukraine is not clear.” FactCheck.org found Biden “was carrying out U.S. policy” and that the International Monetary Fund was pressing Ukraine over corruption at the same time; Hunter Biden’s partner Devon Archer, read the Senate Democrats’ finding that no U.S. action was taken to benefit Burisma, testified in 2023 that he had no knowledge contradicting it.

Their response: Biden, as quoted in the Senate report: “I have never spoken to my son [Hunter] about his overseas business dealings.” Kent, to the Senate committees: “So there was no time, as I’ve testified, that the U.S. government, the U.S. embassy ever made a decision about Zlochevsky or Burisma where we took the presence of a private citizen on the board into account. We made the decision on the merits.”

Sources: Senate Homeland Security and Finance Committees, Republican majority staff report (Sept. 2020) · FactCheck.org (Oct. 15, 2020) · House Oversight Committee, transcribed interview of Devon Archer (July 31, 2023)

He declared the Equal Rights Amendment “the law of the land”; the archivist he appointed would not certify it

On Jan. 17, 2025, three days before leaving office, Biden announced that the Equal Rights Amendment, whose ratification deadline set by Congress expired in 1982, was part of the Constitution: “The 28th Amendment is the law of the land.” A month earlier Archivist Colleen Shogan, a Biden appointee, and her deputy had said it “cannot be certified as part of the Constitution due to established legal, judicial, and procedural decisions,” citing 2020 and 2022 Justice Department opinions and court rulings that the deadline is valid. The White House said he would not order her to publish it, and the Archives answered that day that “The underlying legal and procedural issues have not changed.” NPR reported that the declaration “does not have any formal force of effect.”

Their response: Biden: “In keeping with my oath and duty to Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: The 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex.” A senior administration official told CNN the archivist’s role is “purely ministerial” and “she is required to publish an amendment once it has been effectively ratified.”

Sources: National Archives, statement of the Archivist and Deputy Archivist (Dec. 17, 2024) · NPR (Jan. 17, 2025) · CNN (Jan. 17, 2025) · AP via PBS News (Jan. 17, 2025)

The bribery claim behind the impeachment push was invented; the FBI informant who made it got six years

Alexander Smirnov, a longtime FBI informant, told the bureau in 2020 that a Burisma executive had paid Hunter Biden and his father $5 million bribes; CNN describes the claim as a $10 million bribe. Republicans made the claim public in 2023 and used it to press the impeachment inquiry. Special Counsel David Weiss indicted Smirnov in February 2024 for fabricating it; he pleaded guilty in December 2024 to causing a false FBI record and to tax evasion and was sentenced to six years on Jan. 8, 2025. The Bureau of Prisons locator, checked Oct. 14, 2026, lists him at the federal detention center in Los Angeles with a projected release date of Jan. 31, 2029; he did not appear on the Justice Department’s list of Trump clemency grants as updated Sept. 9, 2026.

Their response: Prosecutors told the court his false claims were “among the most serious kinds of election interference one can imagine”; his lawyers wrote that “his remorse is sincere” (both via CNN). House Oversight Chairman James Comer said after the indictment that the charges did not undermine the inquiry (ABC News paraphrase).

Sources: Report of Special Counsel Weiss, Justice Department (Jan. 2025) · CNN (Jan. 8, 2025) · AP via PBS News (Dec. 16, 2024) · ABC News (Feb. 15, 2024) · Bureau of Prisons inmate locator query (opened Oct. 14, 2026)

His brother repaid him $200,000 the same day a failing hospital company wired the brother $200,000

$200,000 check, marked as a loan repayment

Bank records obtained by House Republicans show James Biden wrote Joe Biden a $200,000 check on March 1, 2018, the day James received a $200,000 wire from Americore Health, a rural hospital operator that later went bankrupt and whose bankruptcy trustee sued James over $600,000 it had wired him as loans; he settled by paying back $350,000. James Biden testified in February 2024 that the check repaid an interest-free $200,000 loan his brother had made on Jan. 12, 2018 through a lawyer’s trust account, that a $40,000 loan in 2017 was handled the same way, that no loan paperwork exists, and that he never told his brother where the repayment money came from. Joe Biden was a private citizen then; it is recorded because it was central to the impeachment inquiry during his presidency and because he pardoned James in January 2025. Bank records reviewed by FactCheck.org show both loans going out by wire from his lawyers’ trust account on the dates James Biden gave. Republicans call it proof he profited from his family’s dealings; the records show a loan out and the same sum back.

Their response: James Biden, to House investigators: “I have had a 50-year career in a variety of business ventures. Joe Biden has never had any involvement or any direct or indirect financial interest in those activities.” He added: “None.”

Sources: House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees, Republican majority report (Aug. 19, 2024) · CNN, on the interview transcript (Mar. 1, 2024) · AP via PBS News (Feb. 21, 2024) · Justice Department, Pardons Granted by President Joseph Biden (2021-2025) · FactCheck.org (Dec. 14, 2023)

Tax indictment: Burisma paid Hunter Biden about $1 million a year while his father was vice president

$7M+ gross income to Hunter Biden, 2016 to 2020 (indictment)

The December 2023 federal tax indictment says Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company, agreed in April 2014 to pay Hunter Biden about $1,000,000 a year as a board member, cut to about $500,000 in March 2017 after his father left the vice presidency, and that in March 2017 a Hong Kong entity tied to the Chinese conglomerate CEFC paid about $3 million to a business associate’s firm. Special Counsel Weiss wrote that he took in more than $7 million from 2016 to 2020 “by using his last name and connections to secure lucrative business opportunities.” The New York Times reported in 2024 that he wrote to the U.S. ambassador to Italy in 2016 seeking help for a Burisma project. This predates the presidency but was the core of the 2023-24 impeachment inquiry; prosecutors never accused Joe Biden of wrongdoing, and Weiss wrote that Hunter Biden “had no co-conspirators” in his tax crimes.

Their response: Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell, on the letter to the ambassador: “No meeting occurred, no project materialized, no request for anything in the U.S. was ever sought and only an introduction in Italy was requested.” AP: “Joe Biden has said he’s never spoken to his son about his foreign business.”

Sources: Report of Special Counsel Weiss with the tax indictment appended, Justice Department (Jan. 2025) · AP via PBS News, on the New York Times report (Aug. 14, 2024) · CNN (Jan. 13, 2025) · AP via PBS News (June 23, 2023)

His son was convicted of three gun felonies and pleaded guilty to nine tax charges during his presidency

$1.4M in unpaid taxes (charges he admitted)

A Delaware jury convicted Hunter Biden in June 2024 of three felonies for lying about his drug use to buy a gun in 2018. On Sept. 5, 2024 he pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to all nine federal tax charges, three of them felonies, over a failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes; prosecutor Leo Wise told the court: “Hunter Biden is not innocent. Hunter Biden is guilty.” Both cases were brought by a special counsel inside his father’s Justice Department, the first prosecution of a sitting president’s child; he was never sentenced, because his father pardoned him on Dec. 1, 2024 (a separate entry).

Their response: Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell, January 2025: “What is clear from this report is that the investigation into Hunter Biden is a cautionary tale of the abuse of prosecutorial power.” Special Counsel Weiss: the prosecutions “were the culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics.”

Sources: CBS News (Sept. 5, 2024) · NPR (Jan. 13, 2025) · CNN (Jan. 13, 2025) · CBS News (Jan. 13, 2025) · Report of Special Counsel Weiss, Justice Department (Jan. 2025)

IRS agents said the Hunter Biden tax case was slow-walked; Garland and the prosecutor denied interference

In June 2023 the Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee released testimony from IRS agent Gary Shapley, later joined by agent Joseph Ziegler, that the Justice Department slow-walked the Hunter Biden tax investigation and refused U.S. Attorney David Weiss special counsel status. A plea deal that would have closed the case collapsed that summer when the judge questioned its terms; Garland named Weiss special counsel in August 2023, and Weiss then indicted Hunter Biden on gun and tax charges. Weiss, first appointed by Trump, told the House in writing that he had “ultimate authority” over the investigation, and the AP noted that the House Republicans’ August 2024 report “provides no evidence that Biden had any involvement in his son’s investigation.” After Trump returned to office Shapley was promoted, and the AP reported in April 2025 that he was expected to be named acting IRS commissioner.

Their response: Attorney General Merrick Garland: “He was given complete authority to make all decisions on his own.” Weiss, in his final report: “In making my decisions, I remained impervious to political influence at all times.” Shapley, to CBS News: “We have to make sure as a special agent for IRS Criminal Investigation that we treat every single person exactly the same.” He added: “And that just simply didn’t happen here.”

Sources: AP via PBS News (June 23, 2023) · CBS News (Jan. 13, 2025) · Report of Special Counsel Weiss, Justice Department (Jan. 2025) · AP via PBS News (Aug. 19, 2024) · AP via PBS News (Apr. 16, 2025)

A buyer of Hunter Biden’s art was named to a federal commission; buyers were supposed to stay secret

$1.38M in gallery receipts (records seen by Insider)

The White House said in 2021 that a gallery would keep the buyers of Hunter Biden’s paintings secret from him and from the administration. Business Insider reported in July 2023 that he learned the identities of two buyers: Democratic donor Elizabeth Hirsh Naftali, whom President Biden named in July 2022 to the Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, an unpaid post, and his own lawyer and lender Kevin Morris. Gallery owner Georges Berges told House investigators, according to the Republican committees’ report, that Naftali paid $42,000 for one piece in February 2021 and $52,000 for another in December 2022, that Morris took 11 pieces priced at $875,000 while paying only the gallery’s commission, and that the first contract required him to tell Hunter Biden who bought. The facts of the sales are documented; that a purchase earned the appointment is an inference no evidence has confirmed.

Their response: White House spokesperson Ian Sams: “We are not involved in his art sales, and any buyers of his art are not disclosed to the White House.” An administration official told Insider that Rep. Nancy Pelosi had recommended Naftali and that there was no connection between her purchases and the appointment. Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell said the gallery “does not disclose the names of any purchasers to Mr. Biden” and that he learned of the two buyers afterward because they were friends.

Sources: Business Insider (July 24, 2023) · House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees, Republican majority report (Aug. 19, 2024) · AP via PBS News (Jan. 25, 2023)

He invoked executive privilege to keep audio of his special counsel interview from Congress

House Republicans subpoenaed the audio of Biden’s October 2023 interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur; the Justice Department gave them the transcript but not the recording, and on May 16, 2024, the last day to comply, Biden asserted executive privilege on Attorney General Garland’s advice. The House voted 216-207 on June 12, 2024 to hold Garland in contempt; two days later the department said it would not prosecute him, citing its longstanding position on officials who act on a president’s privilege claim. The House sued for the audio on July 1, 2024. Axios obtained and published the recordings on May 17, 2025, after Biden left office, and reported that they appeared to bear out Hur’s description of his memory.

Their response: White House counsel Ed Siskel wrote to House Republicans that their likely goal was “to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes.” Garland: “There have been a series of unprecedented and frankly unfounded attacks on the Justice Department.”

Sources: AP via PBS News (May 16, 2024) · AP via PBS News (June 12, 2024) · AP via PBS News (June 14, 2024) · AP via PBS News (July 1, 2024) · Axios (May 17, 2025)

He lost a court fight to keep ghostwriter tapes private; on one he says he “found all the classified stuff”

Special Counsel Hur obtained recordings of Biden’s 2016 and 2017 interviews with his memoir ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer; after the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project sued for them and the Trump Justice Department moved to release them, Biden sued to stop it. A district judge ruled against him in June 2026 and a D.C. Circuit panel refused 2-1 on July 20, 2026 to block release, with a Biden-appointed judge dissenting; he then dropped the suit. About three hours of redacted audio and 117 pages of transcripts were published in late July 2026; in a 2017 session, when he was a private citizen, he says: “I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.” The AP noted he also showed command of many details, and no charges resulted: Hur had closed the case in 2024.

Their response: Biden spokesperson TJ Ducklo: “President Biden’s conversations for a book a decade ago that discussed his late son are private, and were provided to the Department of Justice on the express condition they stay that way.” He called the release “the latest example of this Administration weaponizing the DOJ for political retribution.”

Sources: PBS News (July 28, 2026) · AP via PBS News (July 21, 2026)

A 2025 book says aides limited access to him to hide his decline; his White House doctor took the Fifth

“Original Sin,” a May 2025 book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson, reported that in 2023 and 2024 senior aides cut off access to Biden by Cabinet secretaries, staff and Democratic officials and shaped his schedule to mask physical and cognitive decline; the authors said several Cabinet members told them they doubted he could handle a 2 a.m. crisis. Tapper said: “we’re not alleging a criminal cover-up.” What is on the record: audio of his October 2023 interview with Special Counsel Hur, published by Axios in May 2025, shows memory lapses; he ended his re-election campaign after a halting debate; and his White House physician, Kevin O’Connor, invoked the Fifth Amendment and doctor-patient privilege before House Republicans on July 9, 2025. No official finding that he was unable to do the job has been made.

Their response: A Biden spokesperson, to NPR: “We continue to await anything that shows where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or where national security was threatened or where he was unable to do his job.” The spokesperson added: “He was a very effective president.” O’Connor’s lawyers said asserting the Fifth Amendment “does not imply that Dr. O’Connor has committed any crime.”

Sources: NPR (May 14, 2025) · PBS News Hour interview with the authors (May 22, 2025) · CBS News (July 9, 2025) · AP via PBS News (July 9, 2025) · Axios (May 17, 2025)

Supreme Court struck down his $430 billion student-debt cancellation, 6-3, as beyond his legal authority

$430B in debt the plan would have cancelled (Supreme Court)

In Biden v. Nebraska, decided June 30, 2023, the Supreme Court held 6-3 that the 2003 HEROES Act did not let the education secretary cancel about $430 billion in student loan principal for some 43 million borrowers. Chief Justice Roberts wrote: “Six States sued, arguing that the HEROES Act does not authorize the loan cancellation plan. We agree.” Biden then pursued other routes; his replacement SAVE repayment plan was blocked by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and in August 2024 the Supreme Court declined to put it back in effect.

Their response: Biden, Feb. 21, 2024: “And the Supreme Court blocked it. They blocked it. But that didn’t stop me.” Justice Kagan, dissenting, wrote that the majority “overrides the combined judgment of the Legislative and Executive Branches.”

Sources: Supreme Court, Biden v. Nebraska, No. 22-506 (June 30, 2023) · AP via PBS News (June 30, 2023) · White House transcript, remarks in Culver City, Calif. (Feb. 21, 2024) · AP via PBS News (Aug. 28, 2024)

Supreme Court blocked his eviction ban, which he said most scholars doubted, and his workplace vaccine rule

On Aug. 3, 2021 Biden said of a new CDC eviction moratorium: “The bulk of the constitutional scholarship says that it’s not likely to pass constitutional muster,” adding that litigation would at least buy time to hand out rental aid. The CDC issued it that day. On Aug. 26 the Supreme Court ended it in an unsigned opinion over three dissents, writing: “If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it.” On Jan. 13, 2022 the court also blocked the OSHA vaccine-or-test rule covering about 84 million workers, finding the challengers likely to succeed in arguing the agency lacked authority, while letting a separate vaccine mandate for health care workers stand 5-4.

Their response: Biden, Aug. 3, 2021: “But there are several key scholars who think that it may and it’s worth the effort.” Justice Breyer, dissenting on evictions: “The public interest strongly favors respecting the CDC’s judgment at this moment, when over 90% of counties are experiencing high transmission rates.”

Sources: White House transcript, remarks and questions (Aug. 3, 2021) · Supreme Court, Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. HHS, No. 21A23 (Aug. 26, 2021) · Supreme Court, NFIB v. OSHA, No. 21A244 (Jan. 13, 2022) · AP via PBS News (Aug. 26, 2021) · AP via PBS News (Jan. 13, 2022)

Lower courts found his officials likely coerced social media firms; Supreme Court dismissed on standing

Republican-led states and several individuals sued, saying White House, surgeon general, FBI and cybersecurity officials pressed platforms to suppress posts on COVID-19 and elections; a district judge, and then a 5th Circuit panel in narrower form, found the administration had probably applied unconstitutional pressure and limited its contacts with the companies. On June 26, 2024 the Supreme Court threw out those rulings 6-3 in Murthy v. Missouri, holding that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue; it did not decide whether the pressure was lawful. In August 2024 Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg wrote to House Judiciary Republicans that senior administration officials had “repeatedly pressured” Facebook for months to take down COVID-19 content, including humor and satire, and said: “I believe the government pressure was wrong.”

Their response: White House statement, August 2024: “When confronted with a deadly pandemic, this Administration encouraged responsible actions to protect public health and safety. Our position has been clear and consistent: we believe tech companies and other private actors should take into account the effects their actions have on the American people, while making independent choices about the information they present.”

Sources: Supreme Court, Murthy v. Missouri, No. 23-411 (June 26, 2024) · AP via PBS News (June 26, 2024) · AP via PBS News (Aug. 27, 2024)

Claims he steered the Trump prosecutions: the special counsel testified he never spoke to Biden’s White House

Trump and congressional Republicans say the Biden White House directed the federal cases against Trump. The documented White House role is narrow: in April 2022 the White House Counsel’s Office, at the Justice Department’s request, asked the National Archives to give the FBI access to 15 boxes returned from Mar-a-Lago, and Biden deferred to the Archivist on Trump’s privilege claim. Special Counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Garland in November 2022, told the House Judiciary Committee in December 2025 that he never spoke to Biden or the White House about the investigations and that Garland never suggested he was expected to charge Trump; at a Senate hearing on Sept. 28, 2026 he said he had “no idea” whether the White House had instructed the department and that the decision to prosecute was his own. Senate Republicans disclosed in October 2025 that Smith’s investigation obtained phone toll records, not call content, of eight Republican senators and one House member.

Their response: Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican: “Arctic Frost and related weaponization by federal law enforcement under Biden was arguably worse than Watergate.” Smith’s lawyers, to Grassley: “Mr. Smith’s actions as Special Counsel were consistent with the decisions of a prosecutor who has devoted his career to following the facts and the law, without fear or favor and without regard for the political consequences.”

Sources: National Archives, acting Archivist’s letter to Trump’s lawyer (May 10, 2022) · CBS News, on Smith’s House testimony (Dec. 31, 2025) · AP via PBS News, on the Senate hearing (Sept. 28, 2026) · Senate Judiciary Committee, Republican majority release (Oct. 6, 2025) · ABC News (Oct. 21, 2025)

His Justice Department kept up a secret fight for Times reporters’ emails, then banned the practice

A sealed court fight to obtain the email records of four New York Times reporters, begun under Trump, continued under the Biden Justice Department in 2021 with a gag order that barred the paper from disclosing it; the department then moved to withdraw the order, and the Times reported its existence on June 4, 2021. Biden had said in May that seizing journalists’ records was “simply, simply wrong.” On June 5 the department said it would no longer use compulsory legal process to get reporters’ source information in leak cases, and on July 19, 2021 Attorney General Garland made that formal policy, with limited exceptions. This entry cuts mostly in his favor: the practice ended on his watch.

Their response: White House press secretary Jen Psaki said no one at the White House knew of the gag order until that Friday night and that “the issuing of subpoenas for the records of reporters in leak investigations is not consistent with the President’s policy direction to the Department.”

Sources: AP via PBS News (June 5, 2021) · AP via PBS News (July 19, 2021)

Watchdog found Hatch Act violations by two press secretaries, his chief of staff, three Cabinet secretaries and the Navy secretary

The Office of Special Counsel, the independent agency that enforces the ban on politicking in an official role, found violations by Housing Secretary Marcia Fudge (May 2021, for handicapping Ohio races from the White House podium; she got a warning), press secretary Jen Psaki (December 2021, for saying at a briefing that the White House would do everything it could to help Terry McAuliffe’s campaign for governor of Virginia; warning), Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm (June 2022, for promoting the Democratic Party’s electoral success in an October 2021 magazine interview; warning, with the office finding the violation was not knowing), chief of staff Ron Klain (October 2022, for retweeting from his government account a political group’s post that advertised its “Democrats Deliver” merchandise; warning), Health Secretary Xavier Becerra (for backing a senator’s re-election in 2022), press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (June 2023, for “mega MAGA Republicans” remarks before the midterms; closed with a warning) and Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro (September 2024, for endorsing Biden’s re-election in an official speech in Britain). The office later said Jean-Pierre and deputy Andrew Bates again used “MAGA” in official statements after the warning, and it took no disciplinary action. For scale, the same office found at least 13 senior Trump officials violated the act before the 2020 election.

Their response: A White House official, to NBC News: “We take the law seriously and uphold the Hatch Act.” Del Toro’s lawyer told the office his remarks were “spontaneous and unpremeditated” and did not violate the act. Of Klain, Jean-Pierre said: “he got it wrong this time, and he retweeted something that was political.” Energy Department spokesman David Mayorga, on Granholm: “The Office of Special Counsel has advised the secretary of a single unintended and unknowing infraction and this complaint is now closed.”

Sources: NBC News (Dec. 1, 2023) · CBS News (June 13, 2023) · The Guardian (June 13, 2023) · CNN (May 14, 2021) · CNN (Sept. 5, 2024) · Office of Special Counsel letter on Psaki (Dec. 1, 2021), copy posted by CREW · Government Executive (July 13, 2022) · USA Today via Yahoo News (Oct. 27, 2022)

His U.S. attorney in Massachusetts quit after watchdogs found she leaked to sway an election and lied

Rachael Rollins, Biden’s appointee as U.S. attorney for Massachusetts, resigned in May 2023. A 161-page Justice Department inspector general report found she leaked sensitive department information to the press to damage a candidate for Boston district attorney, lied under oath to investigators about being the source, and solicited 30 free Celtics tickets. The Office of Special Counsel told Biden her Hatch Act violations were among the “most egregious transgressions” it had investigated. The inspector general referred her false statements for possible prosecution in December 2022; the department declined to prosecute.

Their response: Her lawyer, Michael Bromwich, said she “understands that her presence has become a distraction.” Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, a Democrat: “I’m deeply concerned by Ms. Rollins’s misconduct, as detailed in the Inspector General’s and Special Counsel’s reports, and support her immediate resignation.”

Sources: AP via PBS News (May 17, 2023)

His defense secretary was hospitalized for days without telling the White House; watchdog found added risk

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized in early January 2024 for complications of prostate cancer surgery, at one point in intensive care, and the Pentagon waited several days to tell the White House. The Defense Department inspector general reported in January 2025 that his authorities passed to his deputy from Jan. 2 to 5 without timely notice to Congress or the White House Situation Room, that he did not consider transferring them during sedated procedures on Jan. 6 and 8, and that he had texted his chief of staff that he did not want his condition to become “a media circus.” The watchdog found no adverse effect on operations but said the risks to national defense “were increased unnecessarily.” Austin apologized and was still in office when the report came out.

Their response: Austin: “We did not handle this right, and I did not handle this right.” He added: “I should have told the president about my cancer diagnosis. I should have also told my team and the American public. And I take full responsibility.”

Sources: CBS News, on the Defense Department inspector general’s report (Jan. 15, 2025)

He removed one inspector general, after a watchdog council’s findings, and one fixed-term commissioner

In March 2024 Biden notified Congress, 30 days ahead as a 2022 law requires, that he was firing Martin Dickman, inspector general of the Railroad Retirement Board since 1994. The Hill reported, citing a source, that an investigation by the independent inspectors general council had found evidence Dickman created a toxic workplace and used slurs. In July 2021 Biden fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a Trump appointee, despite a statute allowing removal only for neglect of duty or malfeasance, after a Justice Department opinion requested by the White House concluded that a recent Supreme Court ruling let the president remove him at will.

Their response: A White House official said Saul was terminated after he refused the president’s request to resign (AP). No statement from Dickman was found.

Sources: The Hill (Mar. 29, 2024) · AP via PBS News (July 9, 2021)

He released his tax returns while in office, a practice his predecessor had dropped

Biden made his federal tax returns public as president. The 2022 return, released in April 2023, showed $579,514 in income for him and his wife and $137,658 in federal income tax, a 23.8 percent rate; his salary was $400,000. With the 2023 return, released April 15, 2024, the White House said he had shared 26 years of returns. This is recorded as a point in his favor under the disclosure test the tracker applies to Trump.

Their response: White House statement, April 15, 2024: “President Biden believes that all occupants of the Oval Office should be open and honest with the American people, and that the longstanding tradition of annually releasing presidential tax returns should continue unbroken.”

Sources: White House statement (Apr. 15, 2024) · AP via PBS News (Apr. 19, 2023)

House impeached his Homeland Security secretary 214-213; the Senate dismissed both articles without a trial

On Feb. 13, 2024 the Republican-led House impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by 214 to 213, a week after a first attempt failed 214 to 216; CBS News called it the first impeachment of a Cabinet secretary in nearly 150 years. The two articles accused him of “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” on border enforcement and of “breach of public trust.” On April 17, 2024 the Democratic-led Senate voted 51 to 48 and 51 to 49 to sustain points of order that the articles were unconstitutional, ending the trial without hearing evidence. Three House Republicans had joined Democrats against the first attempt, and no court or inspector general finding that he broke the law has been reported.

Their response: The White House called the resolution “an unprecedented and unconstitutional act of political retribution that would do nothing to solve the challenges our Nation faces in securing the border.” Homeland Security spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg: “This baseless impeachment should never have moved forward; it faces bipartisan opposition and legal experts resoundingly say it is unconstitutional.”

Sources: Clerk of the House, Roll Call 43 (Feb. 13, 2024) · CNN, on the failed first vote (Feb. 6, 2024) · CBS News (Apr. 16, 2024) · CNN live coverage of the Senate votes (Apr. 17, 2024)

His bank-regulator chief agreed to quit after a probe found harassment at the agency and faulted his temper

An outside review by the law firm Cleary Gottlieb, dated April 2024 and drawing on accounts from more than 500 people, found a culture of sexual harassment and discrimination at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and said Chairman Martin Gruenberg, whom Biden nominated in 2022, had a reputation for losing his temper with staff that “raises questions about the credibility of the leadership’s response to the crisis and the ‘moral authority’ to lead a cultural transformation.” The report said his conduct was not the “root cause.” On May 20, 2024, after the Senate Banking chairman, a Democrat, asked Biden to name a new chair, Gruenberg said he would step down once a successor was confirmed, which let him stay on for the time being.

Their response: Gruenberg: “In light of recent events, I am prepared to step down from my responsibilities once a successor is confirmed. Until that time, I will continue to fulfill my responsibilities as Chairman of the FDIC, including the transformation of the FDIC’s workplace culture.” Sen. Sherrod Brown: there “must be fundamental changes at the FDIC.”

Sources: Cleary Gottlieb, report to the FDIC special review committee (April 2024) · NBC News (May 20, 2024) · AP via PBS News (May 20, 2024)

Last-day pardon for an ex-Kentucky Democratic chairman convicted over illegal money for his daughter’s race

In the same Jan. 20, 2025 statement that pardoned five of his relatives, Biden pardoned Gerald “Jerry” Lundergan, a former chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party. Justice Department records show Lundergan was sentenced in July 2020 to 21 months in prison and a $150,000 fine for conspiracy, unlawful campaign contributions of $25,000 or more, false statements and falsifying records; the contributions went through his company to the 2014 U.S. Senate campaign of his daughter, Alison Lundergan Grimes, against Mitch McConnell. He had been released from custody in January 2023. The same statement pardoned Ernest Cromartie of South Carolina, sentenced in 2010 for tax evasion.

Their response: The White House said Lundergan, 77, “suffered a debilitating stroke before serving his sentence” and “has demonstrated remorse.” Lundergan: “I am grateful for the President’s action; it offers healing to my family and confirms that our justice system is grounded in forgiveness.” Kentucky Republican Party spokesperson Andy Westberry: “Jerry Lundergan, a longtime Democratic establishment loyalist, exemplifies this cronyism.”

Sources: White House statement and background on the pardons (Jan. 20, 2025) · Justice Department, Pardons Granted by President Joseph Biden (2021-2025) · LEX 18 News, Lexington, Ky. (Jan. 20, 2025)

As he left office he commuted Leonard Peltier’s life sentence for killing two FBI agents, over FBI objection

On Jan. 20, 2025, his last day in office, Biden announced that he had commuted the two life sentences of Leonard Peltier, the American Indian Movement activist convicted of killing FBI agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams on the Pine Ridge reservation in 1975, so that he would serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement; the Justice Department dates the warrant Jan. 19. The U.S. Parole Commission had denied him parole months earlier, and FBI Director Christopher Wray had written to Biden that a commutation “would be an affront to the rule of law.” The White House noted it was not a pardon and cited his age, 80, his health and nearly half a century in prison; a former U.S. attorney whose office handled the case was among those who backed clemency. On Jan. 17 Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses and said he had issued “more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history.”

Their response: The White House: “This commutation will enable Mr. Peltier to spend his remaining days in home confinement but will not pardon him for his underlying crimes.” Wray, to Biden: “Mr. President, I urge you in the strongest terms possible: Do not pardon Leonard Peltier or cut his sentence short.” The family of agent Coler called the decision “surprising and extremely disappointing.”

Sources: White House statement and background (Jan. 20, 2025) · NBC News (Jan. 20, 2025) · White House statement on drug-sentence commutations (Jan. 17, 2025) · Justice Department, Commutations Granted by President Joseph Biden (2021-2025)

A judge would not accept his son’s plea deal after the two sides disagreed on how much immunity it gave

On July 26, 2023 Hunter Biden came to federal court in Delaware to plead guilty to two tax misdemeanors under a deal with his father’s Justice Department that paired the plea with a diversion agreement on a gun charge. Judge Maryellen Noreika, a Trump appointee, found the two sides disagreed on whether the deal shielded him from future charges such as foreign-lobbying violations: prosecutors said no, his lawyers thought yes. She also said she had “concerns about the constitutionality” of the gun agreement, which made her the arbiter of any breach and so could block the executive branch from bringing charges, and told them: “I cannot accept the plea agreement today.” He pleaded not guilty; the deal then collapsed, a special counsel was named in August, and he was later convicted at trial in the gun case and pleaded guilty in the tax case.

Their response: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, the next day: “this is a personal matter for Hunter Biden, this is a personal issue. And as you know, this has been done in an independent way by the Department of Justice, it has been led by a Trump-appointed prosecutor.” She answered “no” when asked whether Biden might pardon his son. Hunter Biden’s lawyer told the judge that, given the politicization of the case, the defense wanted a neutral arbiter to handle any dispute over a breach (CNN paraphrase).

Sources: CNN (July 26, 2023) · CNN, on the White House response (July 27, 2023)

Fewest news conferences per year since Reagan, 37 in four years; no visitor logs kept at his Delaware home

The American Presidency Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara counts 37 news conferences in Biden’s four years, 15 of them solo, an average of 9.25 a year: fewer per year than any president since Ronald Reagan (5.8) and well under Trump’s first term (22), Obama (20.4) and George W. Bush (26.3). The White House Transition Project counted 23 interviews in his first 15 months against 95 for Trump and 187 for Obama over the same span. Cutting the other way, the same university count shows he took reporters’ questions in informal exchanges about 123 times a year, more than Obama or Bush, and he resumed daily press briefings and the publication of White House visitor logs that Trump had ended. In January 2023, after classified papers were found at his Wilmington house, the White House counsel’s office said no visitor logs exist for it, and the Secret Service said it screens visitors there but keeps no record of them.

Their response: White House counsel’s office: “Like every President across decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal. But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them.” The White House did not respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on his interviews.

Sources: American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara, Presidential News Conferences (updated Sept. 28, 2026) · The Guardian, citing the White House Transition Project (June 5, 2022) · CNN (Jan. 16, 2023)

Energy secretary made $1.6 million on stock in a firm Biden had promoted, then reported nine sales late

$1.6M net gain on Proterra shares (Energy Department)

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm held vested stock options in Proterra, an electric-bus maker whose board she had left to join the Cabinet, when Biden took a virtual tour of the company in April 2021 and told its chief executive: “you’re making me look good.” She exercised the options and sold the shares in May 2021 for a net gain of $1.6 million, inside the 180-day window in her ethics agreement. CNBC reported in January 2022 that she also failed to disclose nine other stock sales, worth up to $240,000, within the 45 days the STOCK Act requires, and paid a late fee. The department’s ethics office certified her holdings as compliant once the fee was paid. Separately, the Office of Special Counsel concluded in June 2022 that she had violated the Hatch Act by promoting the Democratic Party’s electoral success in an October 2021 magazine interview; it found the violation was not knowing and closed the matter with a warning.

Their response: A senior administration official: “Neither Secretary Granholm nor the Department of Energy were involved in selecting the Proterra plant.” Energy Department spokeswoman Charisma Troiano on the late filings: “This was an inadvertent clerical oversight on reporting stock sales that ethics officials previously determined did not pose a conflict in her role as Energy Secretary and the Secretary paid the late filing fee.”

Sources: CNN (May 27, 2021) · CNN (May 6, 2021) · CNBC (Jan. 20, 2022) · Government Executive (July 13, 2022)

His counselor’s brother lobbied the White House for drug makers; the counselor’s son got a Treasury job

Lobbying disclosures reviewed by CNBC show Jeff Ricchetti, brother of White House counselor Steve Ricchetti, lobbied the Executive Office of the President in the first quarter of 2021 for GlaxoSmithKline, Horizon Therapeutics and Vaxart; records suggest he had last lobbied that office in 2000. In June 2021 the Treasury Department hired Steve Ricchetti’s son J.J., a 2020 college graduate, as a special assistant in legislative affairs. CNBC found “no indication” the counselor helped his son get the job, and the federal anti-nepotism law applies only if an official is involved in a relative’s hiring. No rule was found to have been broken.

Their response: A White House official: “Steve Ricchetti does not and has not had conversations with Jeff Ricchetti relating to his business representations on any matter.” Jeff Ricchetti: “I do not lobby my brother and I have not even mentioned to him the names of clients that I currently represent.” Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics: “In a nation of over 300 million people, is the son of a top White House official the only person qualified for the job? It has a Jared and Ivanka feel to it.”

Sources: CNBC (Apr. 21, 2021) · CNBC (June 14, 2021)

Justice Dept. acted on school-board threats 5 days after a group wrote Biden; FBI opened 25 assessments

On Sept. 29, 2021 the National School Boards Association wrote to Biden that threats against school officials could amount to “a form of domestic terrorism”; five days later Attorney General Garland directed the FBI and prosecutors to meet with local leaders about “a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence.” A House Republican report, based on subpoenaed records, says the association had shared its draft with the White House, that the FBI created a threat tag and opened 25 assessments, one of which became a full investigation, that the FBI “has not observed an uptick of threats,” and that there were no federal prosecutions. The association apologized for the letter. Republicans’ claim that Garland labeled parents terrorists is false, CNN’s fact-checker found: his memo “did not say anything at all” about domestic terrorism or the Patriot Act.

Their response: Garland told Congress that complaints about schools are “totally protected by the First Amendment” short of threats of violence, and that he “can’t imagine any circumstance in which the Patriot Act would be used in the circumstances of parents complaining about their children, nor can I imagine a circumstance where they would be labeled as domestic terrorism.”

Sources: House Judiciary Committee and Weaponization Subcommittee, Republican interim staff report (Mar. 21, 2023) · CNN fact check (Apr. 26, 2022)

FBI office memo tied “radical-traditionalist” Catholics to extremism; internal review found no malice

On Jan. 23, 2023 the FBI’s Richmond field office issued an eleven-page intelligence memo on violent extremists’ interest in “radical-traditionalist Catholic” ideology that proposed developing sources in churches; it leaked on Feb. 8 and the FBI withdrew it. An internal FBI review found it failed to meet the bureau’s standards and showed errors in professional judgment but no malicious intent, and the Justice Department inspector general found no evidence that anyone directed the analysts to tie extremists to a religion. House Republicans reported that the office relied on an undercover employee and interviewed a priest and a choir director. CBS News reported in June 2026 that the Trump-era FBI had fired at least five analysts who worked on it.

Their response: Stacey Young of Justice Connection, a network of department alumni, on the 2026 firings: “Analysts’ job is to look for potential threats and communicate them to leadership.” Her group said the memo had gone through “apolitical and impartial” reviews and called the firings “nothing but partisan spite.” A Trump administration task force report said the FBI “investigated, monitored, tracked and scrutinized traditional Catholics who had engaged in no criminal misconduct.”

Sources: CBS News (June 5, 2026) · House Judiciary Committee and Weaponization Subcommittee, Republican interim staff report (Dec. 4, 2023)

Agents on horseback used “unnecessary” force on migrants; Biden said they “will pay” before the inquiry ended

In September 2021 mounted Border Patrol agents drove Haitian migrants back toward the Rio Grande at Del Rio, Texas. That month Biden said: “I promise you: those people will pay.” A Customs and Border Protection internal investigation released in July 2022 found “no evidence” that agents struck anyone with their reins, the claim that had spread from photographs, but found an “unnecessary use of force” against people who posed no threat and were inside the United States, and that one agent used denigrating language. Four agents were referred for discipline. The agency’s commissioner cited “failures to make good decisions at multiple levels of the organization.”

Their response: Biden, September 2021: “It’s horrible what you saw,” and “I promise you: those people will pay... There is an investigation underway right now and there will be consequences.” The investigators’ report: “There is no evidence that BPAs involved in this incident struck, intentionally or otherwise, any migrant with their reins.”

Sources: CNN, on the Customs and Border Protection report (July 8, 2022)

Watchdogs: sponsor safety checks unrecorded for 16% of migrant children; 32,000 children missed court dates

The Health and Human Services inspector general reviewed children released to sponsors in early 2021, during a surge in arrivals, and reported in February 2024 that in 16 percent of case files one or more required sponsor safety checks had no documentation, and that in 22 percent of cases the required follow-up call was late. The Homeland Security inspector general warned in August 2024 that Immigration and Customs Enforcement “could not monitor the location and status of all” unaccompanied children: of more than 448,000 transferred to Health and Human Services in fiscal 2019 through 2023, a period that began under Trump, more than 32,000 failed to appear in immigration court and more than 291,000 had not been given a court date. The inspector general said such children are “at higher risk for trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor.” Neither report counts children as missing or harmed.

Their response: The Health and Human Services inspector general reported that the department’s Administration for Children and Families “concurred with all of our recommendations.”

Sources: HHS Office of Inspector General, report OEI-07-21-00250 (Feb. 2024) · DHS Office of Inspector General, management alert OIG-24-46 (Aug. 19, 2024)

University of Pennsylvania paid him $917,643 in 2017-19; 11 staff of its Biden center joined his government

$917,643 in university pay, 2017 to 2019 (his disclosures, via CBS)

Between his vice presidency and his 2020 campaign, the University of Pennsylvania named Biden a professor and opened the Penn Biden Center in Washington; his financial disclosures show the university paid him $917,643 from 2017 to 2019 for speeches and for heading the center, CBS News reported. The Philadelphia Inquirer counted at least 11 center employees who went on to key administration jobs, among them Antony Blinken. Classified documents were found at the center’s offices in November 2022. House Republicans asked whether donations from China to the university helped fund the center; the university said it was paid for entirely with university funds. No evidence of foreign funding of the center has been produced.

Their response: The University of Pennsylvania said the center “has never solicited or received any gifts from any Chinese or other foreign entity” and that the school is “fully compliant with federal law regarding the reporting of foreign gifts and contracts.” The White House did not respond to the Inquirer’s requests for comment.

Sources: CBS News (Jan. 9, 2023) · The Philadelphia Inquirer (Jan. 23, 2023)