With his presidency nearly over, Joe Biden is considering preemptive pardons for people Donald Trump has criticized or threatened.

President Biden entered office alongside a hopeful media, but as four years passed, members of the press were quick to point out that Donald Trump's return would be his legacy.

Hunter Biden was convicted on federal gun charges at a jury trial and pleaded guilty to federal tax charges before being pardoned by his father in December.

The U.S. special counsel who prosecuted Democratic President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden called the president's criticisms of the cases "gratuitous and wrong" in a final report on his probe published on Monday.

Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. 1. Trump. Attorney General Merrick Garland has publicly released special counsel Jack Smith’s report

The special counsel who brought criminal charges against Hunter Biden says the probes were “the culmination of thorough, impartial investigations, not partisan politics.”

Special counsel David Weiss, who spent six years investigating Hunter Biden before his father pardoned him last month, blasted President Joe Biden in his final report, which was transmitted Monday to Congress.

Where he failed President Joe Biden succeeded, securing not just $1.2trn but the very sorts of “Buy American” requirements Mr Trump envisioned. But as Mr Biden lamented recently to USA Today, he never got much credit for the law because “It didn’t have any immediate impact on people’s lives.

Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen discussed how he has requested a presidential pardon from President Biden before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

In public, Trump has decried the state of the nation as "a disaster" and "a mess." But at their private meeting, Trump praised him, Biden said. "He was very complimentary about some of the economic things I had done. And he talked about − he thought I was leaving with a good record."

President Biden, in his farewell address to the nation, said there is a "short distance between peril and possibility."

The timing of the clemency actions, should Biden decide to grant them, is likely to be during his final hours in office and could include pre-emptive pardons, sources told NBC News.