(Screen Capture from White House website.)
(CNSNews.com) - The White House is boasting that with the 153 federal inmates that President Barack Obama granted clemency yesterday, Obama has now commuted more criminal sentences than all the presidents going back to Harry Truman combined.
“Today, the president commuted the sentences of 153 people, bringing his total number of commuted sentences to 1,176 people,” says a graphic at the top of the White House home page. “That’s more than the last 11 presidents combined.”
The graphic links to a statement by White House Counsel Neil Eggleston that is also posted on the White House website. Eggleston notes that President Obama not only commuted the sentences of 153 people yesterday but that he also pardoned 78 people.
The 231 acts of clemency, including both the commutations and the pardons, was the most granted by any president in a single day.
“Today, President Obama granted clemency to 231 deserving individuals — the most individual acts of clemency granted in a single day by any president in this nation’s history,” wrote Eggleston.
“With today’s 153 commutations, the president has now commuted the sentences of 1,176 individuals, including 395 life sentences,” Eggleston wrote. “The president also granted pardons to 78 individuals, bringing his total number of pardons to 148. Today’s acts of clemency — and the mercy the president has shown his 1,324 clemency recipients — exemplify his belief that America is a nation of second chances.”
Eggleston's statement on the White House website included a graphic comparing the 1,176 commuted sentences granted by President Obama to the number of commuted sentences granted by all other presidents going back to Truman.
Another posting on the White House website lists each of the 153 persons whom Obama granted commutations and the 78 he granted pardons.
(Screen Capture from White House website.)