WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of about 1,500 people who were released from prison and placed in home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic.
President Biden defended the move by saying America was built on second chances. This is the largest one-day act of grace in recent years.
With only a few weeks left in office, President Biden is using the power of grace in a large way.
“Today’s actions build on the President’s record on criminal justice reform to support family reunification,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
He also pardoned 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes.
“The president is taking this very, very seriously,” said Jean-Pierre.
Republicans like West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito are still criticizing President Biden for pardoning his son Hunter.
“I found it wrong and gross the way the president presented the reason why he pardoned his own son,” Moore Capito said.
President-elect Donald Trump rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning after being named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year.
Trump told the magazine he plans to quickly pardon most of the people convicted in the riots at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“It really worries me. I was here on January 6th. I was trapped in the gallery and thought I wouldn’t make it out alive,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).
Tennessee Republican Congressman Tim Burchett said those who broke the law should be punished, but disagreed with the overall investigation.
“The whole thing was a hoax. The investigation was just a political move and everyone knows it,” Burchett said.
In a statement, President Biden said he would take further steps in the coming weeks to issue more pardons before his term ends.
