Five individuals who sought pardons from former President Biden are calling for his clemency decisions to be reexamined amid fresh debate over his mental sharpness while in office.
Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, rabbi and former venture capitalist Michael Rothenberg, cardiologist Michael Jones and radio host Warren Ballentine outlined in an op-ed published by The Hill on Monday that they completed the process to apply for pardons under the Biden administration but were ultimately denied.
All five were convicted of nonviolent federal crimes dating back to 2013, and all five are asking President Trump to reconsider their pardon requests.
“Biden’s pardons of close associates and family members raised serious ethical and legal concerns, particularly when others in similar situations were denied pardons,” the five wrote in an op-ed for The Hill.
“The issue at hand was not about his legal right to grant pardons, but whether his cognitive condition affected the integrity of such decisions,” they added. “This is particularly noteworthy since Biden used the full Nixon-era formula in granting ‘full, complete, absolute and unconditional’ pardons to members of his family, covering a lengthy period of time and without citing any specific alleged wrongdoing on their part.”
Jackson said in an interview that his push for reconsideration extended to roughly 70 million Americans who had served their sentences doled out by judges and now find themselves in a “perpetual state of felonization” where it can be difficult to find a job or get housing.
The op-ed comes as fresh reporting and new books, including “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” have reignited debate about Biden’s mental acuity while in office and whether he experienced cognitive decline.
A Biden spokesperson told The Hill that the former president and his team thoughtfully reviewed requests for pardons and commutations and pointed to Biden issuing more than 2,500 individual acts of clemency.
Biden issued more than 80 pardons during his four years in office, and he commuted the sentences of thousands of individuals. The vast majority of his acts of clemency were granted to nonviolent offenders, including numerous individuals who had been charged with nonviolent drug offenses.
But some of his more controversial uses of the pardon power came toward the end of his term. Biden granted a full pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, who had been found guilty on federal gun charges and pleaded guilty to federal tax charges. Hunter Biden had been a political target for Republicans throughout his father’s time in office.
Former President Biden also granted blanket pardons in the final moments of his term to five family members and several former government officials who had been the targets of political attacks from Trump and his allies.
Biden and his allies have staunchly and repeatedly refuted claims that others in the building were making major decisions or that Biden lacked the mental and physical sharpness to carry out his duties.
Jackson, the son of civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, served 17 years in Congress before resigning in 2012 amid a criminal probe. He pleaded guilty in 2013 to conspiring to defraud his reelection campaign of roughly $750,000 and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal tax crimes, campaign finance violations and lying to Congress. He later became a witness in President Trump’s 2024 criminal trial over an alleged hush money scheme.
Ballentine was convicted of fraud in 2013. An appeals court dismissed his appeal in 2016.
Rothenberg was convicted in 2023 on multiple money laundering and fraud charges.
Jones was found guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
“No one disputes the president’s constitutional discretion in wielding the pardon power. But pardons must be given fairly, justly, free of undue influence,” the five wrote in their op-ed.
In an interview Monday, Jackson told The Hill that he did not submit a formal pardon application under the Obama administration or the first Trump administration, though he did reach out to then-Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, a former colleague in the House, in the waning weeks of Trump’s first term.
Jesse Jackson Jr. noted that many pardon recipients have not submitted formal pardon applications, either. In addition to Jackson’s application, his father wrote to Biden last December urging a complete and unconditional pardon for his son.
Jackson’s pardon application was denied on Biden’s final day in office, and he was encouraged to reapply under the incoming administration.
To be sure, President Trump has further exacerbated questions about presidential clemency power and how it can disproportionately benefit those with connections to the administration.
Trump during his first term used clemency powers on political allies such as Paul Manafort, Steve Bannon, Roger Stone and Michael Flynn.
Already in his second term, Trump has pardoned a former Republican congressman who was charged with fraud, commuted the federal sentence of a notorious Chicago gang leader and pardoned reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted on bank fraud and tax evasion charges and whose daughter spoke at last summer’s Republican National Convention.
Trump also pardoned nearly all Jan. 6 defendants on his first day in office.
Jackson’s argument is that those convicted of federal offenses or who pleaded guilty to federal offenses must carry the social and economic costs of “felonization” well beyond their time served. Jackson Jr. asserted that Trump could take sweeping executive clemency action that would be worthy of international recognition.
“We’d like Donald Trump to reinstate every pardon application that Joe Biden did not review, because he only reviewed clearly his family’s,” Jackson Jr. told The Hill.
“This is the path to the Nobel Peace Prize,” Jackson Jr. added. “How many people can you help without Congress, without the courts? These people will be forever grateful to him.”