Biden’s big clemency move and a prisoner swap with China: Here are the facts

President Joe Biden on Dec. 12 announced a single-day record of 1,499 sentences commuted, along with 39 pardons of nonviolent offenders. Some critics later expressed outrage over what they said was the pardon of Chinese spies and a sex offender.

"Evidently, the Biden Administration believes CHILD R#PE is non-violent," a Dec. 12 Instagram post said. "One of the ‘non-violent’ prisoners now being released back into our society is convicted pedophile, Shanlin Jin."

Another Instagram post said, "Joe Biden pardoned 39 people today, including Chinese spies and an individual convicted of possessing child p*rnography."

We found multiple social media posts making similar claims about Biden’s announcement and Jin, a college student in Texas connected to China’s Communist Party who in July 2022 was sentenced to eight years in prison for having more than 47,000 child pornography images and videos on his computer. 

Biden did commute Jin’s sentence to time served, which is different from a pardon, which forgives a crime and restores a person’s rights. But Jin’s commutation was not related to Biden’s Dec. 12 announcement. There is evidence that Jin was part of a November prisoner swap with China to free U.S. citizens, rather than a show of mercy by Biden.

Biden’s Dec. 12 announcement said he was commuting the sentence of nearly 1,500 people who had been in home confinement rather than prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic and "who have successfully reintegrated into their families and communities."

The 39 pardons he also announced were granted to people convicted of nonviolent crimes, the White House said.

Jin’s name was not on a White House list of prisoners who were pardoned or had their sentences commuted that day. Jin’s sentence was commuted Nov. 22, along with two other Chinese nationals who were released and sent back to China as part of a Nov. 27 prisoner swap in exchange for U.S. citizens Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung, the Financial Times and The New York Times reported.

Swidan had been facing drug charges; Li and Leung were held on espionage charges.

NBC News cited an unnamed U.S. official who said Yanjun Xu, a China Ministry of State Security intelligence officer, and Ji Chaoqun, a Chinese national, were two of the prisoners swapped. The New York Times and the Financial Times also cited those two prisoners, and also Jin. (They referred to him as Jin Shanlin).

Jin’s sentence was commuted because it was "​​in the national interest," Biden’s clemency grant said. Jin was not released back into U.S. society, although some social media posts said otherwise. The clemency statement said Jin "shall depart the United States" and "remain outside the limits of the United States."

U.S. officials did not specify which Chinese nationals were sent back to China in exchange for the three U.S. citizens at the time of the deal. We contacted the White House and State Department for clarity but did not immediately hear back.

Justice Department documents show that Biden commuted the sentences of all three Chinese nationals Nov. 22. All three commutations said they were done "in the national interest," which a prisoner swap for three American citizens would be.

Three Russian prisoners, Vladislav Klyushin, Vadim Konoshchenok and Roman Seleznev, were released in August as part of a prisoner swap with Russia that returned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and others to the U.S. Clemency grants issued July 26 for Klyushin and Seleznev contain similar language about the commutations being "in the national interest." Konoshchenok, who was facing ammunition and technology smuggling charges, was granted a full pardon that did not mention the national interest.

Biden so far has granted 65 pardons in his four-year term, including to his son, Hunter Biden, whom he pardoned Dec. 1, after saying for months he would not do so. President-elect Donald Trump issued 143 pardons during his first White House term.

Biden has also commuted 1,635 sentences, Justice Department data shows. That dwarfs Trump’s 94 commutations and is approaching former President Barack Obama’s total of 1,715, Pew Research data shows. Biden has until Jan. 20 to issue more pardons and commutations.