Biden Announces The First Pardons Of His Presidency

President Joe Biden announced Tuesday morning that he has granted clemency to 78 individuals, all of whom were convicted of low-level drug offenses or nonviolent crimes. Three people were pardoned, and 75 received commutations of their sentences.

It’s the first time Biden has exercised his constitutional clemency powers as president. Many of the people granted commutations were convicted years ago of crimes that today carry much lighter sentences. In a call with reporters Monday evening, White House officials said that if the people who received clemency were charged or convicted of any of the crimes in 2022, about a third of them would have received a lesser sentence.

Two of the pardons went to people with low-level drug offenses, and the third was given to Abraham Bolden Sr., an 86-year-old former U.S. Secret Service agent and the first Black person to serve on a presidential detail.

Bolden was accused of trying to sell a copy of a Secret Service file in 1964. Bolden maintained his innocence throughout his first trial, which resulted in a hung jury.