Biden commutes nearly 1,500 sentences in sweeping clemency grant

President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people and pardoning 39 more convicted of nonviolent crimes, the White House announced on Thursday, describing it as “the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history.”

The people whose sentences will be commuted were placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and have “successfully reintegrated” with their families and communities, the White House said in a statement.

Biden is still reviewing clemency petitions and more announcements are to come, White House officials said, although they did not provide details about which additional petitions Biden is weighing. Pressure has grown on the outgoing president to exercise his powers to protect people who might be targeted by the Justice Department under President-elect Donald Trump, and opponents of capital punishment have called for Biden to empty federal death row by commuting the inmates’ sentences to life in prison. Trump staunchly supports capital punishment.

Thursday’s pardons and commutations represent a dramatic action by Biden at a moment when he has few such options and a shrinking window to accomplish them, given Trump’s assumption of the presidency on Jan. 20.

Unlike executive orders, clemency decisions cannot be reversed by a president’s successor, so they are among the few actions Biden can take now with the knowledge that Trump will not undo them.

In Thursday’s press briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the day was historic, and that his actions “build on the president’s record of criminal justice reform to help reunite families, strengthen communities and reintegrate individuals back into society.”

“As the president has said before, America was founded on the premise of second chances,” Jean-Pierre said. “For far too long, our criminal justice system has closed doors, (eliminating) an opportunity for too many people who should have the chance to once again participate in daily life and contribute to their communities.”

But the White House faced added questions about the president’s decision two weeks ago to pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was found guilty of gun-related charges in Delaware and had pleaded guilty to tax evasion in California.

Anita Dunn, a former senior adviser to the president who left the administration in August, said in a New York Times DealBook Summit video posted Wednesday that she disagrees with the rollout of the pardon for Biden’s son.

“I absolutely think that Hunter deserves a pardon here, but I disagree on the timing, the argument and sort of the rationale,” she said.

In defending Biden on Thursday, Jean-Pierre repeatedly referred to a letter Biden wrote about the pardon. The letter said Hunter Biden was “singled out because he was my son” and that “raw politics has infected this process.”

Biden and his allies have argued that prosecutors would never have charged an ordinary citizen for the kinds of gun and tax offenses that Hunter Biden committed, and that he was targeted solely because he is the president’s son. “I think the president, he hopes the American people hear him out,” Jean-Pierre said. “The American people should take a look at the president’s own words, his statements, how he wrestled with that decision, how circumstances changed for him and his view.”

Some of the criticism of Hunter Biden’s pardon came from those upset that the president had said repeatedly he would not pardon him. Many criminal justice advocates, meanwhile, expressed frustration that Biden had acted to benefit his son alone, instead of broadly using his clemency power for less privileged people.

Thursday’s action aimed to do that. A number of the people who received clemency Thursday would have received lighter sentences if they had been charged under current laws and practice, Biden said in a statement, adding, “America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances.”

Jean-Pierre noted that Biden was the first president to issue pardons to people convicted of simple use and possession of marijuana and to former LGBTQ+ service members convicted because of their sexual orientation.

Pardons by an outgoing president, especially those involving a family member or close associates, often provoke controversy.

President George W. Bush pardoned former defense secretary Caspar W. Weinberger and five others enmeshed in the Iran-contra scandal weeks before leaving office. President Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich – a fugitive financier who made deals with shady international regimes and was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list – on his last day in office, later saying he regretted the pardon.

Trump, during his first term, pardoned Charles Kushner, father of his son-in-law Jared Kushner. The elder Kushner, who had been convicted of tax evasion, has now been selected by Trump as his ambassador to France.

In an interview published Thursday with Time magazine, which named Trump its “person of the year,” the president-elect said that within minutes or hours of taking office, he would pardon people convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Biden is said to be weighing preemptive pardons for people who may be targeted by the incoming Trump administration, hoping to protect those who stood up to Trump in various says.

Those under consideration for such pardons include Anthony S. Fauci, who helped coordinate the nation’s coronavirus response; retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has called Trump a “fascist”; Sen.-elect Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who led the first impeachment effort against Trump; and former congresswoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., an outspoken GOP critic of Trump who campaigned with his opponent in this year’s election, Vice President Kamala Harris.

Some Democrats have question whether such pardons make sense, since none of those involved have been charged with crimes and there is no indication they are guilty of anything.

Others say such preemptive pardons are reasonable in this case because of the explicit threats by Trump and his allies to target people they see as political adversaries.

Biden’s clemency decisions Thursday were of a different type.

The 39 people who were pardoned had been convicted of nonviolent crimes, including drug offenses. They “have turned their lives around,” the White House said. “These individuals are parents, veterans, health care professionals, teachers, advocates, and engaged members of their communities.”

A list of those who received pardons or clemency, released by the White House later Thursday morning, describes how several have made strides since their release.

Among them: a 72-year-old Navy veteran convicted of theft-related crimes who had maintained steady employment in the medical field; a 36-year-old man convicted of a drug offense 13 years ago who has since gotten a job in the legal industry and volunteered in his community; and a 39-year-old woman convicted of drug crimes who completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, works in the health-care field and volunteers as a counselor at an inpatient psychiatric facility.

In the final days of his second term in 2017, President Barack Obama granted 330 commutations to nonviolent drug offenders – which at the time was the most granted in one day in U.S. history.

Before Thursday’s announcement, Biden had commuted the sentences of more than 140 people and granted 26 pardons in office. The president has also granted pardons for military veterans convicted of having gay sex, once a crime under military law, and people convicted of marijuana possession at the federal level.

Biden’s administration received nearly 12,000 petitions for clemency and more than 1,400 petitions for pardons through early December, according to statistics released by the Justice Department.

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Mark Berman, Ann E. Marimow, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser contributed to this report.