Biden pardons Hunter | Biden commutes sentences of nearly all federal death row inmates to life in prison

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If Biden pardons Trump targets, Trump wins by claiming see, I told you they were guilty all along. If Biden doesn’t pardon them, these folks may need a lot of financial support to fight.

I think they should fight because they did noting illegal or wrong. But how far and wide a net will Trump and Patel cast? For instance, I could see pardoning the cop who shot Ashli Babbit not because he is a murderer but because he has been a persistent MAGA target who probably doesn’t have the financial wherewithal to withstand a drumhead …
 
Biden should give blanket pardons to all civil servants, cabinet officers, Kamala Harris, all current White House staffers, all current diplomats, all journalists and all reporters with the exception of Hoax News and Newsmax "reporters" ,
 
nycfan said:


If Biden pardons Trump targets, Trump wins by claiming see, I told you they were guilty all along. If Biden doesn’t pardon them, these folks may need a lot of financial support to fight.

I think they should fight because they did noting illegal or wrong. But how far and wide a net will Trump and Patel cast? For instance, I could see pardoning the cop who shot Ashli Babbit not because he is a murderer but because he has been a persistent MAGA target who probably doesn’t have the financial wherewithal to withstand a drumhead …
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If Trump is going to go after them for the reasons that you think Trump will go after them, then do you honestly think that he is going to let something like a pardon stop him? The man has no interest in the rule of law, except when it benefits him.
 
Back story on these commutations and pardons:

apnews.com

Biden commutes roughly 1,500 sentences and pardons 39 people in biggest single-day act of clemency

The president is also pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. The move follows a pardon for his son Hunter, who was prosecuted for gun and tax crimes.
apnews.com apnews.com

Biden commutes roughly 1,500 sentences and pardons 39 people in biggest single-day act of clemency​


“President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of roughly 1,500 peoplewho were released from prison and placed on home confinement during the coronavirus pandemic and is pardoning 39 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. It’s the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.

The commutations announced Thursday are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released. Prisons were uniquely bad for spreading the virus and some inmates were released in part to stop the spread. At one point, 1 in 5 prisoners had COVID-19, according to a tally kept by The Associated Press.

… The president had previously issued 122 commutations and 21 other pardons. He’s also broadly pardoned those convicted of use and simplepossession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia, and pardoned former U.S. service members convicted of violating a now-repealed military ban on consensual gay sex. …”
 

Biden granted clemency to the ‘kids-for-cash’ judge. The White House didn’t consider the case specifics.​

The Biden administration used broad parameters in granting the nearly 1,500 clemency requests.

“The White House commuted the sentence of the judge at the center of a notorious “kids-for-cash” scandal without considering the specifics of his case, beyond whether it fit into a broad set of criteria, an administration official told POLITICO on Friday.

President Joe Biden this week granted clemency to the former Pennsylvania judge, Michael Conahan, as part of a mass commutation covering nearly 1,500 people who had been released on home confinement during the Covid pandemic.

Conahan’s inclusion sparked harsh blowback, with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro criticizing Biden for getting it “absolutely wrong.”

“I do feel strongly that President Biden got it absolutely wrong and created a lot of pain here in northeastern Pennsylvania,” Shapiro, a Democrat, said at an event on Friday. Conahan “deserves to be behind bars, not walking as a free man.”

Conahan was convicted in 2011 of funneling juveniles to for-profit detention centers in exchange for more than $2 million in kickbacks. He was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges. …

But the White House did not consider any of those details when weighing the charges against Conahan or the cases of other individuals who received commutations on Thursday, said the administration official, who was granted anonymity to discuss the clemency process.

Instead, the administration granted commutations en masse to all those who fit a broader set of parameters, touting the move as a record-setting act of mercy carried out just before the holidays. …

Those commutations were extended to people on Covid-related home confinement after federal authorities verified that their offenses were nonviolent and not a sex offense or terrorism related, the official said. They were also all considered a low risk for recidivism, had not engaged in any violent or gang-related activity while in prison and had been on good behavior for at least a year. None of the commutations granted were individual decisions, the official added, and none who met the criteria were excluded. …”

——
Why was this guy on home confinement instead of in prison? Either way, a perfect example of the perils of doing blanket clemency …
 
I can’t tell you how disappointed I’ve been by Biden in the last year. I know he had no chance of getting anything meaningful done in an election year with the Pubs in control of the House, but he’s repeatedly botched even the things he does control. Very strong first couple of years. Very, very bad last year. I’m not sure he cares that much about his legacy at this point, but he could have been remembered much more favorably than he will be.
 
I got to say that I could understand if he's decided he doesn't give a fuck. He's given his life to politics and has seen all the old traditions get stomped into the mud. Politics no longer stops at the water's edge. There's no spirit of compromise. The Senate doesn't advise and consent but manipulates and dictates. Candidates do make deals in advance with foreign leaders. He's had his son dragged through a cruel and unusual legal treatment, not because of his crimes ( Yeah, he probably did deserve some punishment but the prosecution turned into persecution.) but to personally hurt Biden. That was some cruel and tawdry stuff in my opinion.

I also don't remember a president who did this good a job that got so little respect from everybody, not just the opposition, in the last year of his term. If I were him, I'd be pretty pissed off about everything and might feel like I didn't care about the little traditions that no one else has given a shit about for the last dozen or so years.
 
finesse said:
I got to say that I could understand if he's decided he doesn't give a fuck. He's given his life to politics and has seen all the old traditions get stomped into the mud. Politics no longer stops at the water's edge. There's no spirit of compromise. The Senate doesn't advise and consent but manipulates and dictates. Candidates do make deals in advance with foreign leaders. He's had his son dragged through a cruel and unusual legal treatment, not because of his crimes ( Yeah, he probably did deserve some punishment but the prosecution turned into persecution.) but to personally hurt Biden. That was some cruel and tawdry stuff in my opinion.

I also don't remember a president who did this good a job that got so little respect from everybody, not just the opposition, in the last year of his term. If I were him, I'd be pretty pissed off about everything and might feel like I didn't care about the little traditions that no one else has given a shit about for the last dozen or so years.
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In terms of what’s going on in his head, I agree. But he’s the god damn president of the United States of America. Sometimes, you have to do the right thing, and do it well, regardless of how pissed off you might be personally. I can give him some grace for all he’s been through. But his legacy, to me at least, is how he performed his duties as president, and the last year or so has not exactly been covered in glory.
 
lawtig02 said:
In terms of what’s going on in his head, I agree. But he’s the god damn president of the United States of America. Sometimes, you have to do the right thing, and do it well, regardless of how pissed off you might be personally. I can give him some grace for all he’s been through. But his legacy, to me at least, is how he performed his duties as president, and the last year or so has not exactly been covered in glory.
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What do you consider his mistakes as opposed to the party's?

I have to admit that I'm biased because I'm greatly incensed about how they used Hunter to hurt Biden. With what he went through losing Beau after the rest of the family tragedies, that's as low life as it gets.
 
finesse said:
What do you consider his mistakes as opposed to the party's?

I have to admit that I'm biased because I'm greatly incensed about how they used Hunter to hurt Biden. With what he went through losing Beau after the rest of the family tragedies, that's as low life as it gets.
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Part of my frustration is that for better or worse, Biden runs the party. That’s a huge part of the role of POTUS. But I think in hindsight, Biden’s biggest ACTIVE mistakes have been (1) deciding to run again and (2) this disastrous pardon/commutation strategy. But it’s really the impact of that first mistake that’s been most devastating. The Dems lacked an effective communicator in the most pivotal political moment in recent history. That hurt us very badly on everything from Israel to immigration to economic policy.
 
lawtig02 said:
Part of my frustration is that for better or worse, Biden runs the party. That’s a huge part of the role of POTUS. But I think in hindsight, Biden’s biggest ACTIVE mistakes have been (1) deciding to run again and (2) this disastrous pardon/commutation strategy. But it’s really the impact of that first mistake that’s been most devastating. The Dems lacked an effective communicator in the most pivotal political moment in recent history. That hurt us very badly on everything from Israel to immigration to economic policy.
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Well, I'd argue that 2016 was much more critical. I'd also argue that, with the path that the press took, that there was no Democrat that would have gotten the message out.

I don't know when it became apparent to anyone, especially him, that he shouldn't run again. I'm watching it to a small extent in my house. It's taken my wife a couple of years to realize how she's slipping and I honestly can't say that I'm not even though I don't think so. Was it him, his advisors, a combination of those or that and the stress of the job?
 
finesse said:
Well, I'd argue that 2016 was much more critical. I'd also argue that, with the path that the press took, that there was no Democrat that would have gotten the message out.

I don't know when it became apparent to anyone, especially him, that he shouldn't run again. I'm watching it to a small extent in my house. It's taken my wife a couple of years to realize how she's slipping and I honestly can't say that I'm not even though I don't think so. Was it him, his advisors, a combination of those or that and the stress of the job?
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All fair points. I just believe fairly strongly that when it comes to party politics, the buck stops with the president. That may not always be fair, but with great power comes great responsibility and all that.
 
lawtig02 said:
All fair points. I just believe fairly strongly that when it comes to party politics, the buck stops with the president. That may not always be fair, but with great power comes great responsibility and all that.
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That loyalty and respect should cut both ways, though. When it doesn't and virtually every other convention concerning politics has been cast aside, I'm not feeling a lot of grievance about his actions.
 
www.nytimes.com

Biden Commutes 37 Death Sentences Ahead of Trump’s Plan to Resume Federal Executions

Those affected by the president’s action on Monday are still subject to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Three men will remain on federal death row.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

“President Biden on Monday commuted the sentences of nearly all prisoners on federal death row, sparing the lives of 37 men just a month before Donald J. Trump will return to the Oval Office with a promise to restart federal executions.

Those affected by Mr. Biden’s action, all of whom were convicted of murder, will serve life imprisonment without the possibility of parole instead of facing execution. Only three men, who each carried out notorious mass killings, will remain on federal death row.

The president campaigned in 2020 on ending the federal death penalty. Although proposed legislation to that effect failed to advance in Congress during his administration, Mr. Biden directed the Justice Department to issue a moratorium on federal executions. Thirteen prisoners on federal death row were put to death during Mr. Trump’s first term. …”
 
“…
“I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Mr. Biden said in a statement on Monday. “In good conscience, I cannot stand back and let a new administration resume executions that I halted.”

Mr. Biden said the commutations were consistent with the standard he has imposed for halting executions “in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.”

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Mr. Biden said. …”
 
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