Biden commuted 1,500 sentences, issued 39 presidential pardons

President Joe Biden announced presidential pardons for 39 Americans and commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 others convicted of nonviolent crimes yesterday, describing it as “the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history.”

It comes after Biden pardoned his criminally convicted son, Hunter Biden. Recently, the outgoing president has been under pressure to exercise his clemency powers to protect people who might be targeted under President-elect Donald Trump, who said yesterday that he will pardon people convicted of crimes related to January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol within minutes or hours of taking office.