Clemency groups use Hunter pardon to pressure Biden
Politico“This is a matter of doing the right thing, as well as it’s a matter of legacy. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters this week that “you could expect more” pardons and clemency action as the president finishes out his term — and that he takes the responsibility of ensuring fairness in the criminal justice system “very seriously.” The sense of urgency across the criminal justice movement has intensified in the days since Biden made the party-splitting move to issue a sweeping pardon of his son, Hunter. “I think many people, for various reasons, are confused by Biden pardoning his son but not taking more federal action to grant clemency to people in the federal system.” The Office of the Pardon Attorney, under the Department of Justice, has received nearly 12,000 requests for clemency during the president’s term. Daniel Landsman, the vice president of policy at Families Against Mandatory Minimums, said Biden should consider relief for Americans serving outdated sentences, people in home confinement under the CARES Act home confinement policy, Americans sentenced prior to the adoption of the sentencing guidelines in 1987 who don’t qualify for compassionate release, as well as people serving sentences under the 18-to-1 crack to powder cocaine sentencing disparity. “We need to make sure these poor people, military personnel, law enforcement, civil servants, people like Liz Cheney, Cassidy Hutchinson, Adam Kinzinger, etc., they need and deserve legal protections from what Trump and his incoming FBI Director Kash Patel are saying that they plan to do.” Rep. Jim Clyburn told POLITICO that he discussed this idea with the president a month ago.