Joe Biden grants clemency to almost 1,500 people

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US President Joe Biden has granted clemency to almost 1,500 people, the largest-ever number in a single day, saying he was “extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation”.

The White House said the clemency affected people who had been placed in home confinement during the Covid-19 pandemic and had “successfully reintegrated into their families and communities”. Biden also pardoned 39 people who had been convicted of non-violent crimes.

Biden said that many of the 1,500 people would have received shorter prison sentences if they had been charged with the same crimes today. He also promised to take “more steps in the weeks ahead”.

The move comes less than two weeks after Biden pardoned his son Hunter for convictions on gun and tax charges in a move widely criticised, even among fellow Democrats. Biden will leave the White House on January 20 when president-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated.

Biden had been under pressure from Democrats to extend clemency to others beyond his son before the end of his term. Presidential pardons are a common feature of White House transitions, though they can be controversial.

Trump pardoned several key allies before leaving office following the 2020 election — and is expected to take the unusual step of issuing pardons for individuals convicted in connection with the January 6 2021 riot at the US Capitol by his mob of supporters.

The pardon of Hunter Biden was especially contentious due to its sweeping nature, covering any crimes he may have committed since 2014. This would insulate him from new potential prosecutions by the justice department under Trump, who has vowed to seek retribution against his political foes.

Biden has been weighing pre-emptive pardons of other allies and individuals who may be targeted by Trump — including members of the former congressional committee probing the January 6 insurrection such as Liz Cheney, the former Wyoming congresswoman and daughter of former vice-president Dick Cheney.

“For what they did, honestly, they should be in jail,” Trump told NBC in an interview on Sunday. Liz Cheney responded that his threat was a “continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic”.