December 12, 2024
Biden Commutes About 1,500 Sentences
President Joe Biden today carried out the largest act of presidential clemency on a single day in modern history, commuting the sentences of almost 1,500 people, and pardoning 39 more Americans who were convicted of non-violent crimes. The nearly 1,500 commutations all relate to people who were released from prisons and placed under house arrest during the height of the Covid pandemic. At the time, prisoners were released to their homes as an emergency measure under the Cares Act to prevent the spread of Covid through the federal prison system.
While the 1,500 will still retain their convictions — just with sentence reductions — the 39 people pardoned by Biden will have their guilty verdicts wiped out. In Biden’s statement today, he said the 39 were all individuals convicted of non-violent crimes, including drug offenses, and have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation.
During President-elect Trump’s first term in office, he pardoned only 144 people and commuted the sentences of 94 others, but many of those acts were considered highly controversial. Trump has vowed to pardon many of those convicted of crimes relating to the storming of the Capitol and attempted coup that happened on January 6, 2021. Also, speaking of that, the Inspector General of the Justice Department announced today that there was no evidence found that undercover employees of the FBI were involved in the attack on that day — a common conspiracy theory touted by January 6 apologists and defenders.
Investigating the Investigators
Next up, a trio of stories about the FBI. First, and related to the previous item, a new report released today by the Justice Department inspector general determined that there was no evidence that undercover employees of the FBI were involved in the attack on the Capitol — a common conspiracy theory touted by January 6 apologists and defenders. That said, the Bureau was criticized for not gathering sufficient information from its own confidential sources prior to the attack, calling it a “basic step that was missed.” (LINK)
Next up, a former informant for the FBI, Alexander Smirnov, is pleading guilty to charges of lying to the FBI about fake criminal allegations against President Biden and his son, Hunter. Smirnov had told his FBI handler in 2020 that the two Bidens had each accepted $5 million from an energy company in Ukraine — which, despite being repeated numerous times by congressional Republicans and news personalities on right-wing cable channels, was determined to be false. (LINK)
And finally, Christopher Wray, the man who has been at the top of the FBI since being appointed to the position by Donald Trump in 2017, has announced that he will resign from his post at the end of the current administration. As I mentioned previously, the Director of the FBI typically has a 10-year tenure, but Wray is stepping down early to, in his words, “avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray” of politics, as Trump had already named loyalist Kash Patel as a successor.
Interestingly, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) has stated that Wray was the “worst FBI director in American history”. (Ed. note: If Wray was really that bad, I wonder what makes Hawley think Trump is making a better pick this time?) (LINK)
With a Name Like “Mace”…
And finally, a call for thoughts and prayers to be sent to Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who is recovering from her reported assault during a Tuesday evening event for foster children. During the event, James McIntyre, an Illinois man who was recently named “Public Citizen of the Year” by the National Association of Social Workers, went to speak to the representative and, according to her, made “threats on [her] life” and “physically accosted” her, causing her to need a wrist brace and ice for her arm.
Multiple eyewitnesses who watched the interaction note that McIntyre (checks notes) shook her hand.
Perhaps what elevated the handshake to the level of assault, which led to Mace calling for the Capitol Police to arrest McIntyre, was him making a comment about how transgender youth in foster care need support. Mace is a vociferously anti-trans lawmaker, having recently introduced a bill to prevent incoming representative, and trans woman, Sarah McBride from using the women’s bathroom.
McIntyre has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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