Biden pardons Marcus Garvey, Don Scott and 3 others in final full day action
Washington — President Biden issued multiple pardons on his final day in office, granting clemency to individuals he said had “made significant contributions to improving their communities” as his term drew to a close.
“America is a nation built on the promise of second chances,” Biden said in a statement, noting that he has used his clemency powers to “make that promise a reality,” with more pardons and commutations than in history. More than any other president. ——The record he set after his sentence was commuted Nearly 2,500 people on Friday.
The president on Sunday granted clemency to five people, most of them convicted of nonviolent drug crimes, and commuted the sentences of two individuals who he said had shown “remorse, rehabilitation and… Redemption”.
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Marcus Mosiah Garvey was one of those pardoned, and he received a posthumous pardon. Garvey was a black nationalist who was convicted of mail fraud in the 1920s, and President Calvin Coolidge commuted his sentence in 1927. Biden also pardoned immigrant rights advocate Ravi Raghbir and criminal justice reform advocate Kemba Smith Pradia. The President pardoned Don Scott, who became first black speaker Member of the Virginia House of Representatives last year.
Scott told CBS News that he received a call from the White House shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday morning confirming the pardon decision.
Scott, who served seven years in prison on drug charges, said through tears that he was “so grateful because I don’t take anything for granted.”
“I think there are a lot of people like me who deserve a second chance, but there are people in power who won’t do that, who won’t use the power they have,” Scott added. “I’m grateful that President Biden is using “
Biden has issued pardons in recent days, following the president’s largest single-day pardon in modern history in December, commuting the sentences of several Bidens. About 1,500 people and pardoned nearly 40 Americans convicted of nonviolent crimes. Earlier that month, he also pardoned his son, Hunter Biden.
The moves come amid questions about whether Biden will preemptively pardon officials who have been targeted by President-elect Donald Trump and could be prosecuted in the new administration. Trump is scheduled to be sworn in at noon on Monday.
