Washington DC
Late pardons: Joe Biden used his final hours in office on Monday to issue pre-emptive pardons to several members of his own family and various officials. Justifying the step, which senior Democrats had urged against, Biden (pictured) said that his five relatives – his three siblings and two of their spouses – had done nothing wrong, but had faced“unrelenting” threats from Republicans. Before that, he’d issued pre-emptive pardons for Anthony Fauci, the infectious diseases expert who led the US’s Covid response; Liz Cheney, an outspoken Republican critic of Trump; General Mark Milley, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who has called Trump a “fascist”; and members of the Congressional committee that investigated the 6 January riot.
Last week, Biden used his farewell speech to warn…
