President Biden commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and granted pardons to 39 people, the largest single-day clemency act in modern history, the White House announced Thursday morning.
The sentence was commuted for inmates who have been placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and have “successfully reintegrated into their families and communities,” according to the announcement. According to the White House, 39 people who were pardoned were convicted of nonviolent crimes.
“The President has handed down more commutations at this point in his term than any of his recent predecessors at the same point in their first terms,” White House officials said in a statement.
Biden has signaled plans to issue more pardons before he leaves office.
After Biden spares Hunter his sentence, who else will pardon him?
President Biden on Thursday commuted the prison sentences of 1,500 people and pardoned 39 others in the largest one-day clemency move in modern U.S. history, according to the White House. (Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“In the coming weeks, we will take further steps. My administration will advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second-career support,” Biden said. We will continue to review the clemency petition to provide them with a chance.”
Thursday's pardon comes as the president faces bipartisan criticism for pardoning his son Hunter on felony gun and tax charges.
Biden vowed repeatedly over the months not to intervene on his son's behalf, but on December 1 he reversed his words. Although public figures have criticized the move, it was widely unpopular among Americans. An Associated Press poll conducted Wednesday found only two in 10 Americans approved of the pardon.
Hunter Biden is all smiles as he leaves Arby's in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. This is the first time President Joe Biden's son has been photographed since he was pardoned. (Fox News Digital Image Direct)
The eldest son was convicted in two separate federal cases earlier this year. He pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in September and was convicted in June of three felony gun counts for falsely stating on a mandatory gun purchase form that he did not use the weapon illegally or was addicted to drugs. I received it.
Mother of Hunter Biden's daughter defends pardon, says she's being targeted because of who her father is
The president said in a statement that Hunter was “singularly chosen simply because he is my son” and claimed that “there was an attempt to break Hunter down” in order to “break me down.”
President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden exit a bookstore while shopping in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on November 29, 2024. Just days later, on December 1, Biden pardoned his son. (Mandel Gann/AFP via Getty Images)
The day after the pardon, reporters grilled White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, asking whether President Biden and his agents had lied to the American people. “One of the things the president believes in is always being honest with the American people,” Jean-Pierre responded, repeatedly pointing to Biden's own statements on the issue.
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The judge in the Hunter case criticized Biden for pardoning him and accusing investigators, prosecutors and himself of political bias.
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