President Joseph Biden tried to Pardon his family, and a slew of others today, but ALL of those Pardons appear to be NULL and VOID on their face.
A President of the United States derives the power to "grant Pardons or Reprives" from the US Constitution, pursuant to Article section 2, Claus 1. It reads (relevant section highlighted by me):
Section 2
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
By the plain text above, a President can ONLY Pardon ". . . for Offenses . . ." He lacks the power to Pardon to save anyone from ". . . being investigated or prosecuted . . . ." as he verbatim stated when explaining the Pardons this way: “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, . . .”
Under our system of Justice an accused person is "innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." So being arrested, charged, and Indicted are meaningless as it relates to a Pardon. A president does not have the power to Pardon someone to avoid the process!
As such, it seems to me as an unqualified Layman, and not an attorney, ALL the Pardons issued by Biden are Null and Void on their face.
Thanks to those Pardons, however, Investigators now have a time line in which to investigate, because Biden included date-ranges in most of the Pardons. So if there __was__ criminality, Investigators now know what time frame to look at!
Lastly, it seems to most people that Biden may have had actual knowledge of crimes committed, but even though he was chief law enforcement officer of the federal government, he not only failed to prosecute, the Pardons he issued seem an effort to cover up criminality. If that's the case, if a cover-up can be proven, that may make Biden himself an "Accessory after the fact" or may make him guilty of "Misprison of a felony."
I suggest the Department of Justice Investigate each and every person Pardoned by Joe Biden because where there's smoke, there's fire. These Pardons seem to me to be a lot of smoke.
