Drug Lords, Ponzi Schemers, and Corrupt Officials: Meet Joe Biden’s Clemency Recipients
13th December 2024
A former judge who sent juveniles to prison in the “Kids for Cash” kickback scandal. A former city official in Illinois who orchestrated the largest municipal embezzlement in state history. A journalist who manufactured a fentanyl-like drug dubbed “the most potent” in the United States.
Those are just a few of the nearly 1,500 federal convicts whom President Joe Biden granted clemency on Thursday in what the White House touted as “the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history.”
The White House framed the move as part of Biden’s “record of criminal justice reform to help reunite families, strengthen communities, and reintegrate individuals back into society,” touting clemency awarded to a “decorated military veteran” who helps fellow church members, and a nurse who “spearheaded vaccination efforts.” Biden has faced intense pressure to issue mass clemencies after pardoning his son, Hunter—who faced sentencing for felony gun charges and tax evasion—of any federal crime he may have committed in more than a decade.
A Washington Free Beacon review of those who received clemency shows that many of the recipients were serving sentences for serious crimes