The President Joe Biden said Thursday that it was pardoning 39 people convicted of non-violent crimes and commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 people under house arrest who have “demonstrated successful rehabilitation and a commitment to making their communities stronger and safer.”
The White House described the actions as “the largest single-day grant in modern history.”
“These transplant recipients who were confined to their homes during the Covid pandemic have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities and shown that they deserve a second chance,” Biden said. a statement.
President Joe Biden speaks during the White House Conference on Women’s Health Research from the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024.
Susan Walsh/AP
According to the White House fact sheet, those receiving pardons Thursday include a military veteran who spends time helping church members in poor health, a nurse who helped with emergency response and a volunteer addiction counselor who helps youth.
The White House noted that this is not the last pardon for Biden in his final months in office.
“He obviously wants to take additional steps to provide meaningful second chances,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in Thursday’s daily briefing. “That’s all this is.”
But Jean-Pierre declined to say whether Biden was considering possible pardons for people who could be targeted by the Trump administration, such as former congresswoman Liz Cheney or Dr. Anthony Fauci. ABC News notify in advance Biden was considering the option, according to a source close to the president.
“I’m not going to get ahead of the president,” Jean-Pierre told ABC News White House correspondent MaryAlice Parks when pressed on the matter. “As I said, we will have more — the president will have to announce more in the coming weeks as we wind down our time here.”
“I’m not going to get into the president’s thoughts,” he continued. “He’s going to have conversations with his team. He’s going to look at pardon requests. He’s going to look at the options that are on the table.”
