Joe Biden’s preemptive pardons are a valid use of pardon power. But they break new ground as a shield for those the president seeks to protect, scholars say.

Trump's clemency for Jan. 6 rioters and Biden's reprieve for family represent merely the latest chapters in an odd history of the presidential pardon.

President Joe Biden on Monday issued preemptive pardons for prominent critics of President-elect Donald Trump and members of his own family, using extraordinary executive prerogative as a shield against revenge by his incoming successor.

President Biden noted that the "should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing."

A day that began with the outgoing president’s pardon of lawmakers and his own family ended with the incoming president’s pardon of supporters who violently stormed the Capitol four years ago.

Both the last-minute pardons former President Joe Biden gave his family members and the pardons President Donald Trump gave to J6 rioters are unpopular with a majority of voters.

President Trump criticized former President Biden for pardoning several members of his family during his last moments as commander in chief. “That makes him look very guilty,” Trump said while speaking to reporters late Monday in the Oval Office as he signed a number of executive orders.

Comedian Alex Stein has criticised US media networks ABC, CBS and NBC for their disproportionate broadcasting of Donald Trump’s and Joe Biden’s pardons.