Did President Joe Biden unilaterally release a Chinese spy convicted of possessing child pornography? No, that's not true: A White House spokesperson told Lead Stories a Chinese doctoral student sentenced to 8 years in federal prison in 2022 was granted clemency and deported on November 22, 2024, as part of a prisoner swap between the United States and China. Three Americans were released in the deal.
The claim originated in a post on X (archived here) on December 12, 2024. It said:
Joe Biden granted clemency to a CCP agent who had 47,000 files of chiId p*rnography
Here is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Fri Dec 13 15:12:40 2024 UTC)
Whether Shanlin Jin was a spy and how much child pornography he possessed is outside the scope of this fact check. The sentencing document does not say he is a spy, nor does it include the number 47,000.
On November 22, 2024, Biden signed an executive grant of clemency (archived here) commuting the prison sentence of Jin, a Chinese citizen, and ordering him deported.
According to a December 2, 2021, Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge (archived here), Jin was caught in a Collin County, Texas, Sheriff's Office undercover police operation investigating "receipt and possession of child pornography."
In a December 28, 2021, filing with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Jin agreed with the following statement (see screenshot below of document from court file):
Jin knew that the images and videos he possessed and distributed depicted
children engaged in sexually explicit conduct and did constitute child pornography. Jin
also knew that he possessed and distributed more than 600 images and videos of child
pornography, including files depicting prepubescent minors, and depictions of sadistic or
masochistic abuse or other depictions of violence, or the sexual abuse or exploitation of
an infant or toddler.
(Source: PACER screenshot taken on Fri Dec 13 17:17:00 2024 UTC with redactions by Lead Stories)
Jin pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography and was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison on July 14, 2022:
(Source: PACER screenshot taken on Fri Dec 13 17:17:10 2024 UTC)
(Source: PACER screenshot taken on Fri Dec 13 17:20:40 2024 UTC)
The U.S. Constitution allows the president to grant clemency -- or leniency -- for any federal offense. But not all clemency is the same. The United States Office of the Pardon Attorney documents for people seeking pardons or clemency (archived here) explains it this way:
Pardon after Completion of Sentence
The President can grant a pardon to a person who was convicted in a United States District Court, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, or a military court-martial. Generally, a pardon is an expression of forgiveness. A pardon can help eliminate some of the consequences of a conviction.
The President can commute (reduce) a federal sentence and a sentence imposed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Use the commutation application to seek relief from a prison sentence, fine, or restitution.
Jin was not pardoned. His sentence was commuted, and he was deported from the United States.
A White House spokesperson who asked not to be identified told Lead Stories on December 13, 2024, that Jin was part of a trade to release three American prisoners held in China.
It was important to us getting wrongly detained Americans home. Clemency was a part of the process.
Lead Stories has reached out to the U.S. Chinese Embassy and will update this fact check when they respond.
For more Lead Stories fact checks on presidential pardons, click here.
