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President Biden has commuted the prison sentences of nearly 1,500 people and granted 39 pardons, the largest single-day clemency act in modern history, the White House announced Thursday morning.
Sentences were commuted for inmates who were placed under house arrest during the COVID-19 pandemic and have “successfully reintegrated into their families and communities,” according to the announcement. The 39 people pardoned were convicted non-violent crimes, the White House said.
“The president has issued more commutations of sentence at this point in his presidency than any of his recent predecessors at the same time in their first terms,” White House officials said in a statement.
Biden hinted that he plans to do more pardons and clemencies before he leaves office.
WHO ELSE CAN BIDEN PARDON AFTER HE HAS TO KEEP HUNTER FROM SENTENCE?
President Biden commuted 1,500 prison sentences and pardoned 39 more on Thursday in the largest single-day clemency act in modern US history, according to the White House. (Samuel Corum/Girl/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I will take more steps in the coming weeks. My administration will continue to review clemency requests to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second chances,” he said. Biden.
Thursday’s pardons come as a The president faces bipartisan criticism to pardon his son, Hunter, for gun and tax crimes.
Biden promised multiple times over several months that he would not intervene on his son’s behalf, only to go back on his word on December 1. Although public figures have criticized the move, it was also very unpopular with the American people. A Wednesday survey of the Associated Press found that only 2 in 10 Americans approved of the pardon.
Hunter Biden flashes a big smile as he leaves an Arby’s in Santa Barbara on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. This was the first time President Joe Biden’s son has been photographed since he was pardoned. (The Image Direct for Fox News Digital)
The first son had been convicted in two separate federal cases earlier this year. He pleaded guilty to federal tax charges in September and was convicted of three gun felonies in June after lying on a mandatory gun purchase form saying he was not an illegal drug user or addict.
HUNTER BIDEN’S DAUGHTER’S MOTHER DEFENDS PARDON, SAYS IT’S ‘TARGETED FOR WHO HER FATHER IS’
the president argued in a statement that Hunter was “selected only because he’s my son” and that there was an effort to “break Hunter” in order to “break me.”
President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden leave a bookstore while shopping in Nantucket, Massachusetts on November 29, 2024. Biden pardoned his son a few days later on December 1. (MANDEL I/AFP via Getty Images)
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was questioned by reporters a day after the pardon, asking whether President Biden and his surrogates lied to the American people. Jean-Pierre replied: “One thing the president believes in is always being truthful with the American people,” he said, repeatedly pointing to Biden’s statement on the matter.
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The judge in Hunter’s case chided Biden for the pardon and for accusing investigators, prosecutors and himself of political bias.
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.
