Bill Clinton pardon controversy

Bill Clinton was criticized for some of his presidential pardons and acts of executive clemency. Pardoning or commuting sentences is a power granted by the Constitution to sitting U.S. Presidents. Scholars use two different models to describe the pardons process. Clinton used the presidential model, viewing the pardon power as a convenient resource that could be used to advance specific policy goals. In contrast, the agency model views the pardons process as process driven by nonpolitical legal experts in the Department of Justice. Clinton chose to make nearly a third of them on January 20, 2001, his last day in office. This was ridiculed as Pardongate. While Clinton pardoned a large number (450) of people compared with his immediate one-term predecessor Republican George H. W. Bush, who pardoned only 75, the number of people pardoned by Clinton was comparable to that pardoned by two-term Republican Ronald Reagan and one-term Democrat Jimmy Carter, who pardoned 393 and 534 respectively.
Federal prosecutor Mary Jo White was appointed to investigate the pardon of Marc Rich. She was later replaced by Republican James Comey, who found no illegality on Clinton's part.
FALN Commutation of 1999.
On August 11, 1999, Clinton commuted the sentences of 16 members of FALN, a Puerto Rican paramilitary organization that set off 120 bombs in the United States, mostly in New York City and Chicago. There were convictions for conspiracy to commit robbery, bomb-making, and sedition, as well as firearms and explosives violations. The 16 were convicted of conspiracy and sedition and sentenced with terms ranging from 35 to 105 years in prison. Clinton offered clemency on the condition that the prisoners renounce violence, seeing as none of the 16 had been convicted of harming anyone and they had already served 19 years in prison. This action was lobbied for by ten Nobel Laureates and the Archbishop of Puerto Rico. The commutation was opposed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons and was criticized by many, including former victims of FALN terrorist activities and the Fraternal Order of Police. Hillary Clinton, then campaigning for her first term in the Senate, initially supported the commutation, but withdrew her support three days later.
Congress condemned this action by President Clinton, with votes of 95–2 in the Senate and 311–41 in the House. The U.S. House Committee on Government Reform held an investigation on the matter, but the Justice Department prevented FBI officials from testifying. President Clinton cited executive privilege for his refusal to turn over some documents to Congress related to his decision to offer clemency to members of the FALN terrorist group.
Among those who accepted clemency are:
Those who rejected clemency include:
Edgar and Vonna Jo Gregory pardons.
In March 2000, Bill Clinton pardoned Edgar and Vonna Jo Gregory, owners of the carnival company United Shows International, for charges of bank fraud from a 1982 conviction. Although the couple had already been released from prison, the prior conviction prevented them from doing business in certain American states. First Lady Hillary Clinton's youngest brother, Tony Rodham, was an acquaintance of the Gregorys, and had lobbied Clinton on their behalf. In October 2006, the group Judicial Watch filed a request with the U.S. Justice Department for an investigation, alleging that Rodham had received $107,000 from the Gregorys for the pardons in the form of loans that were never repaid, as part of a quid pro quo scheme.
Pardons and commutations signed on President Clinton's final day in office.
Clinton issued 140 pardons as well as several commutations on his last day of office, January 20, 2001. When a sentence is commuted, the conviction remains intact; however, the sentence can be altered in a number of ways.
On February 18, 2001, Bill Clinton wrote a "New York Times" column defending the 140 pardons.