President Joe Biden on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people and granted pardons for 39 individuals with convictions for nonviolent crimes. (Photo by Caspar Benson/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden Thursday commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people who were placed in home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic, and granted pardons for 39 individuals with convictions for nonviolent crimes.

“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in a statement. He noted many of the 1,500 were serving long sentences that would be shorter under current laws, policies and practices.

As the Biden administration winds down, it’s the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern day history.

The president added that his administration will continue to review clemency petitions before his term ends on Jan. 20. There are more than 9,400 petitions for clemency that were submitted to the White House, according to recent Department of Justice clemency statistics. 

“As President, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses,” Biden said.

Those 39 people who received pardons included 67-year-old Michael Gary Pelletier of Augusta, Maine, who pleaded guilty to a nonviolent offense, according to the White House, which provided brief biographies of the pardoned individuals.

After his conviction, Pelletier worked for 20 years at a water treatment facility and volunteered for the HAZMAT team, assisting in hazardous spills and natural disasters. He now grows vegetables for a local soup kitchen and volunteers to support wounded veterans.

Another pardon was granted to Nina Simona Allen of Harvest, Alabama.

Allen, 49, was convicted of a nonviolent offense in her 20s, the White House said. After her conviction, she earned a post-baccalaureate degree and two master’s degrees and now works in the field of education. Additionally, she volunteers at a local soup kitchen and nursing home.

Hunter Biden pardon

The clemency action came after the president gave a full pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, on gun and tax charges and any other offenses, from 2014 until December. The president previously stated he would not pardon his son, but changed his mind because he said his son was constantly targeted by Republicans.

Other clemency actions Biden has taken include commuting sentences of those serving sentences for simple possession and use of marijuana under federal and District of Columbia law and a pardon of former U.S. service members who were convicted under military law of having consensual sex with same-sex partners — a law that is now repealed.  

Additionally, advocates and Democrats have pressed Biden to exert his clemency powers on behalf of the 40 men on federal death row before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House. Democrats have pushed for this because Trump expedited 13 executions of people on federal death row in the last six months of his first term.

The co-executive directors of Popular Democracy in Action, a progressive advocacy group, Analilia Mejia and DaMareo Cooper, said in a joint statement that Biden should “not stop now.” 

“Thousands more of our people who have been wronged by an unjust system are still waiting for freedom and compassion,” they said.

Those with nonviolent offenses who were pardoned by the president, according to the White House:

Alabama

Nina Simona Allen

California

Gregory S. Ekman

Colorado

Johnnie Earl Williams

Connecticut

Sherranda Janell Harris

Delaware

Patrice Chante Sellers 

District of Columbia

Norman O’Neal Brown

Florida

Jose Antonio Rodriguez

Illinois

Diana Bazan Villanueva 

Indiana

Emily Good Nelson

Kentucky

Edwin Allen Jones

Louisiana

Trynitha Fulton

Maine

Michael Gary Pelletier

Maryland

Arthur Lawrence Byrd

Minnesota

Kelsie Lynn Becklin

Sarah Jean Carlson

Lashawn Marrvinia Walker 

Nevada

Lora Nicole Wood 

New Mexico

Paul John Garcia

New York

Kimberly Jo Warner 

Ohio

Duran Arthur Brown

Kim Douglas Haman

Jamal Lee King

James Russell Stidd

Oklahoma

Shannan Rae Faulkner

Oregon

Gary Michael Robinson

South Carolina

Denita Nicole Parker

Shawnte Dorothea Williams

Tennessee

James Edgar Yarbrough

Texas

Nathaniel David Reed III 

Mireya Aimee Walmsley

Lashundra Tenneal Wilson

Utah

Stevoni Wells Doyle

Virginia

Brandon Sergio Castroflay

Washington

Rosetta Jean Davis

Terence Anthony Jackson

Russell Thomas Portner

Wisconsin

Jerry Donald Manning

Audrey Diane Simone

Wyoming

Honi Lori Moore

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the results of the 2024 election in the Rose Garden at the White House on Nov. 7, 2024 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s decision to pardon his son from federal gun and tax crimes —and any other offenses over a nearly 11-year period — has drawn outrage from Republicans, while only a few Democrats have criticized the outgoing president for establishing a potential precedent for the incoming GOP administration.

In a lengthy Sunday night statement, Biden laid out his reasoning for reversing his long-stated position that he would not give his son a pardon. He argued that Hunter Biden was unfairly targeted by Republicans and noted that investigations began in December 2020, shortly after Biden won the presidential election.

The pardon would cover offenses which Hunter Biden “has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024,” the executive grant of clemency signed by Biden said.

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” Biden said.

Trump and Jan. 6

President-elect Donald Trump took to his social media site, TruthSocial, where he called the move  “an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”

Trump questioned whether Biden’s pardon would include the 29 inmates held in the District of Columbia jail for offenses related to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Of those, 27 are charged with assaulting law enforcement after Trump riled up his supporters to overturn the presidential election he lost.

“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years?” Trump wrote.

With the move, Biden joined Trump and former President Bill Clinton in pardoning family members.

Biden has one of the lowest clemency rates compared to prior presidents. There are currently more than 10,500 petitions for clemency that were submitted to the White House, according to recent Department of Justice clemency statistics.  

Trump granted 143 pardons during his first term and so far Biden has granted 26 pardons, including his son’s. Former President Barack Obama granted 212 pardons.

Advocates and Democrats have pressed Biden to exert his clemency powers on behalf of the 40 men on federal death row before his term expires in January. The push comes as Trump is set to return to the White House. The former president expedited 13 executions of people on federal death row in the last six months of his first term.  

The co-executive directors of Popular Democracy in Action, a progressive advocacy group, Analilia Mejia and DaMareo Cooper, said in a joint statement that Biden should “provide the same compassion he gave his son and pardon the 10,000 clemency petitions on his desk.”

“The President has the power to provide clemency to thousands of people who have been wronged by the laws governing the judicial system and the political considerations that engendered them,” they said.

Hunter Biden’s federal charges stem from a 2018 gun purchase. He lied on a form by checking a box that affirmed he was not using illegal drugs, but he did then use drugs while owning the firearm.

A federal jury convicted him in June and the gun charges carried a possible prison sentence.

Hunter Biden also pleaded guilty to separate federal tax charges in California.

Target for Republicans

Over the course of Biden’s presidency, House Republicans have held hearings and inquiries into the finances of the Biden family, focusing on Hunter Biden in an attempt to broadly stick corruption charges to the president. No evidence has shown any wrongdoing by the president.

But the pardon gave fresh ammunition to Biden critics, who noted it contradicted what the president had long promised.

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer, Republican of Kentucky, in a statement said Sunday that Biden “has lied from start to finish about his family’s corrupt influence peddling activities.”

“The charges Hunter faced were just the tip of the iceberg in the blatant corruption that President Biden and the Biden Crime Family have lied about to the American people,” Comer said. “It’s unfortunate that, rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, President Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability.”

Many Republicans criticized Biden for reversing his long-standing stance that he would not pardon his son.

“President Biden insisted many times he would never pardon his own son for his serious crimes,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, said on social media. “But last night he suddenly granted a ‘Full and Unconditional Pardon’ for any and all offenses that Hunter committed for more than a decade! Trust in our justice system has been almost irreparably damaged by the Bidens and their use and abuse of it.”

Selective Democrats object

Democrats in Congress have largely remained silent about the pardon, but some, including Ohio’s Greg Landsman and Arizona’s Greg Stanton, criticized the move.

“As a father, I get it,” Landsman wrote on social media. “But as someone who wants people to believe in public service again, it’s a setback.”

Stanton in a social media post wrote that while he respected Biden, “I think he got this one wrong.”

“This wasn’t a politically-motivated prosecution,” he said. “Hunter committed felonies, and was convicted by a jury of his peers.”

Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet wrote on social media that “President Biden’s decision put personal interest ahead of duty and further erodes Americans’ faith that the justice system is fair and equal for all.”

Michigan U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, chair of the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, wrote on social media that the president’s decision to pardon his son was wrong. 

“A president’s family and allies shouldn’t get special treatment,” Peters said. “This was an improper use of power, it erodes trust in our government, and it emboldens others to bend justice to suit their interests.”

On CNN, Maryland U.S. Rep. Glenn Ivey said that he had “mixed views” about the pardoning.

“I know that there was a real strong sentiment in, you know, wanting to protect Hunter Biden from unfair prosecution,” he said. “But this is going to be used against us when we’re fighting the misuses that are coming from the Trump administration.”

Trump pardons

Trump himself granted controversial pardons, including of Paul Manafort, a former campaign official who was convicted of tax and bank fraud amid alleged interference by Russia in the 2016 presidential election.

He also pardoned Roger Stone, who was convicted on charges of lying to Congress about his knowledge of Russian efforts to discredit former first lady and 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential race.

Trump also pardoned his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner, who was charged with tax evasion and retaliating against a federal witness, who was the elder Kushner’s brother-in-law. Trump on Saturday announced his intent to appoint Kushner as the next U.S. ambassador to France. 

 

South Carolina Democratic Rep. James Clyburn urges President Joe Biden to recommit sentences of federal death row inmates during a Wednesday press conference outside the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — House Democrats and anti-death penalty advocates pressed Wednesday for President Joe Biden to save the lives of federal death row inmates before his term expires in January.

The push comes as President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House. The former president expedited 13 executions of people on federal death row in the last six months of his first term, which advocates said increased the urgency for Biden to spare prisoners now facing death sentences.

“I joined the abolition movement during the federal killing spree under the first Trump administration,” said Brandi Slaughter, a board member of the death penalty abolition group, Death Penalty Action. “We know what the next president plans to do if any prisoners are left under a sentence of death at the end of the Biden administration. We’ve been there.”

There are currently 40 people on federal death row, all men. There have been no federal executions under the Biden administration. 

On the campaign trail, Trump often called for the death penalty, including for migrants who kill U.S. citizens and human traffickers.

Outside the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, James Clyburn of South Carolina, Mary Scanlon of Pennsylvania and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota pressed for Biden to exercise his clemency authority before Trump comes into office on Jan. 20 next year.

“The mass incarceration crisis is one of our country’s greatest failures,” Pressley said. “It is a policy failure, and it is a moral failure. The shameful crisis that has ravaged our communities, destabilized our families and inflicted generational struggle for far too long.”

Pressley’s father was incarcerated during her early life.

“The system only offered him criminalization and incarceration for his substance use disorder, and as a child, I was forced to also carry that burden, that stigma, that shame,” she said.

Calls for clemency

Pressley said Democrats sent Biden a letter asking him to use his clemency, and proposed types of convicts who should be prioritized. The letter was signed by 64 House Democrats.

Pressley said examples of those deserving leniency included prisoners who are elderly, chronically ill, subjected to sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine and women who were “punished for defending themselves against their abusers or were coerced into criminal activity as part of an abusive relationship.” 

“Those on death row who are at risk of barbaric and inhumane murder at the hands of the Trump administration can have their death sentence commuted and be resentenced to a prison term,” she said.

“We’re here today to ask him to take another step in that direction and to demonstrate, once again, a very positive consequence of his having been elected our 46th president, and to carry out his clemency powers in a very positive way,” Clyburn said.

Omar said that “clemency represents a critical opportunity to correct long-standing injustices, recognize human potential for redemption and acknowledge that our legal system has often been more punitive than restorative.”

In addition to advocating for death-row clemency, Scanlon said that Biden should consider pardoning people for simple marijuana possession and former LGBTQ service members who were convicted under military law because of their sexual orientation.

The Biden administration earlier this year did move to pardon military vets who were charged under military law for same-sex relationships.

Last year, Biden granted clemency to nearly a dozen people for nonviolent drug offenses. In 2022, he granted clemency to nearly 80 people charged with nonviolent crimes.