President Joe Biden caused a stir when he announced on a Sunday evening in early December his intention to pardon his son, Hunter. The pardon itself wasn’t particularly surprising — many (myself included) would have found it more surprising had Joe opted not to spare his son on his way out the door at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
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The scope of the pardon (spanning close to 11 years, and very specifically harkening back to January 1, 2014, when Joe Biden was still vice president and Hunter was just about to be appointed to the Burisma board)? Now, that definitely raised eyebrows.
The outgoing president caused another stir Thursday morning when he issued a veritable pardon-palooza, pardoning 39 individuals and commuting the sentences of nearly 1,500 others.
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This prompted numerous folks to start digging into some of these pardons, only to discover that among those receiving clemency were three Chinese nationals — one convicted of possession of child pornography and two convicted of spying.
🚨UPDATE🚨
Joe Biden isn’t just granting clemency to ped*philes—he is also granting clemency to Chinese spies.
Yanjun Xu was sentenced to 20-years in prison for plotting to steal proprietary information from aviation companies, including Evendale-based GE Aviation.… https://t.co/w9045xZT88 pic.twitter.com/KJrdzA0hy6
— Breanna Morello (@BreannaMorello) December 12, 2024
Now, one thing needs to be made very clear: The three clemency grants referenced above were not issued on Thursday. They were, in fact, issued on November 22, 2024, so almost three weeks prior. They simply flew under the radar until the latest batch was announced.
So, let’s take a closer look at these three recipients in particular.
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- First, we have Yanjun Xu, convicted in the Southern District of Ohio of conspiracy to commit economic espionage; conspiracy to commit trade secret theft; attempted economic espionage by theft or fraud; attempted theft of trade secrets by taking or deception, and sentenced in November 2022 to 240 months (20 years) imprisonment. (Xu had been confined since April 2018, so has served approximately six years of the sentence.) Xu’s sentence was commuted to time served, and Xu was to depart the United States and not return.
- Next, we have Ji Chaoqun, convicted in the Northern District of Illinois of conspiracy to defraud the United States; impersonating agents of foreign governments; statements or entries generally, and sentenced in January 2023 to 96 months (eight years) imprisonment. (Ji had been confined since September 2018, thus also having served six years of the sentence.) Ji’s sentence was commuted to time served and, like Xu, to depart and remain outside of the United States.
- Lastly, there is Shanlin Jin, convicted in the Eastern District of Texas of possession of child pornography, and sentenced in July 2022 to 97 months imprisonment, five years supervised release, and restitution. (Jin had been confined since January 2021.) Like the others, Jin’s sentence was commuted to time served and conditioned on his departing and remaining outside the U.S.
Sure to engender added outrage, Jin reportedly pled guilty after 47,000(!) child porn images were found on his computer.
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So why on earth were these three the beneficiaries of Biden’s clemency?
As it turns out, these three had their sentences commuted as part of a prisoner swap with China effected in November. There was reporting on it at the time, but the Chinese nationals release were not identified at that point. In return, three Americans who had been detained for years by China were released.
Three Americans who had been detained in China for years have been released in a prisoner swap between Washington and Beijing.
“We are pleased to announce the release of Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung from detention in the People’s Republic of China,” a US National Security Council spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday. “Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years.”
So, who is among those pardoned or receiving commuted sentences in the massive batch announced Thursday? That will take a while to review and absorb, but here’s the list of all clemency recipients during Biden’s tenure — thus far.
