Vice Presidential Pool Reports of April 25, 2024

Pool was brought into the Roosevelt Room at 2:47pm to find the vice president seated at the head of the table. Kim Kardashian and White House Office of Public Engagement Director Steve Benjamin were seated on either side of the VP. Four others who the White House says received pardons from the Biden administration were also seated at the table.

Pool was told the entire conversation, rather than just the opening remarks from the VP and Kardashian, was going to be made open to the press. The event was streamed here: https://www.youtube.com/live/UdCBaTPgtrY?si=J1XD1YR9eWzttz9o

The VP began speaking at 2:47pm, right when pool entered. The VP thanked Kardashian for using her platform to bring awareness to the issue.

The VP noted she was a "big believer in the power of redemption.""But is it not the sign of a civil society, that we allow people a way to earn their way back and give them the support and the resources they need to do that," she said.

She spoke about her work on the issue while a district attorney and attorney general in California.

" I have worked on this issue my entire career and I know it works. I know that it works to give people second chances," the VP said.

"Yes, it's about redemption but it's also about public safety," she later said.

"I just don't think people should have to go to jail for smoking weed."

VP concluded her remarks at 2:55pm and Kim Kardashian spoke next. She spoke for about three minutes.

Kardashian spoke about being in the same room for her first clemency meeting and how it "inspired" her in general and to go to law school.

"I'm so honored to be here to continue this fight," Kardashian said.

After the VP and Kardashian's opening remarks, the discussion, moderated by Benjamin, opened up. Those who received pardons took turns telling personal stories, including about the moment they heard they were receiving the pardon.

"Overwhelming gratitude for being one of the few that they did pardon," one participant, Jesse Mosley, said. "Now I'm sitting at the table with the VP and Kim K."

The VP intervened at this point to say: " it didn't just happen. You made it happen."

Starting at 3:21pm, Kardashian, Benjamin and the VP -- in that order -- gave brief concluding remarks.

"We have to help people earn their way back," the VP said.

Pool was ushered out at 3:27.

Below is background from the White House:

On background from a White House official:

On the heels of President Biden's latest announcement of pardons, this afternoon, Vice President Harris will convene pardon recipients for a roundtable discussion to highlight the President's historic use of the clemency power and the Biden-Harris Administration's Second Chance policies during Second Chance Month. She will be joined by criminal justice reform advocate Kim Kardashian, and the Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, Steve Benjamin, will moderate the conversation. The Vice President's 2:30PM ET remarks will be livestreamed at www.whitehouse.gov.

During her remarks, the Vice President will announce the finalization of a Small Business Administration rule that will remove most restrictions on loan eligibility that are based on the person's criminal record. The Vice President first announced the proposed rule in January.

The four pardon recipients participating in the discussion are among the sixteen individuals who received clemency from the President yesterday. All sixteen individuals were convicted of non-violent drug offenses and many, including some of the pardon recipients participating in the roundtable, would be sentenced differently today under current law, policy, and practice.

To date, President Biden has commuted the sentences of 122 individuals and granted pardons to 20 individuals who committed non-violent drug offenses. In Oct. 2022, the President issued a proclamation that pardoned individuals for simple possession of marijuana, and he issued a second proclamation in Dec. 2023 to cover additional marijuana offenses. These blanket pardons cover tens of thousands of individuals. President Biden has used his clemency power more than any recent Administration at this point in his term.

Last month, Vice President Harris convened a roundtable conversation about marijuana reform where she highlighted various actions the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to advance long-overdue criminal justice reforms. She convened individuals who were pardoned and was joined by Grammy-nominated artist and philanthropist Fat Joe, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, White House Director of Public Engagement Steve Benjamin, and White House Domestic Policy Advisor Neera Tanden.

Additional Background on the Vice President's Leadership Reforming the Criminal Justice System and Biden-Harris Administration Actions:

Vice President Harris has spent her career working to make the criminal justice system more just. Her work as San Francisco District Attorney, California Attorney General, a U.S. Senator, and now Vice President, has focused on protecting vulnerable communities; creating a fair and equal system; addressing gun violence; and ensuring accountability of law enforcement. Today's announcement builds on that work.

• Re-Entry: Beginning with her time as District Attorney, the Vice President has led on the issue of prisoner reentry and efforts to reduce recidivism.
  • As Senator, Vice President Harris introduced the Fair Chance at Housing Act of 2019, which would have helped remove barriers to obtaining federal housing assistance for individuals with criminal records.
  • As District Attorney, she launched the Back on Track program, which allowed first-time drug offenders to get a high school diploma and a job instead of prison time. Vice President Harris later sponsored a bill to expand Back on Track to counties, which passed in 2009. She also secured federal funding to establish San Francisco's first Reentry Transitional Housing program to provide housing and comprehensive services to individuals returning to San Francisco from prison.
  • As Attorney General, Vice President Harris expanded Back on Track and in 2013, created the Division of Recidivism Reduction and Reentry to identify evidence-based best practices that reduce recidivism, identify grants to fund innovative programs, and use technology to assess outcomesâ€"this was one of the first divisions of its kind in the country.
  • The Biden-Harris Administration has expanded Pell grants for people in prison so more people can get an education while incarcerated.
  • The Biden-Harris Administration has invested nearly $1B in job training, addiction recovery, and re-entry support.
• Addressing Gun Violence:
  • As Senator, the Vice President co-sponsored the Assault Weapons Ban of 2019 and the Assault Weapons Ban of 2017 to address gun violence.
  • As Attorney General, the Vice President introduced legislation to close the "bullet button" loophole that allowed gun users to easily convert handguns to semi-automatic weapons.
  • The Biden-Harris Administration achieved passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun safety legislation in nearly 30 years, which invests $250M in community violence intervention, and provides $1B to hire/train 14K mental health professionals in schools.
• Sentencing Reform:
  • As Senator, Vice President Harris cosponsored the Justice Safety Valve Act, which would have eliminated all mandatory minimums by letting judges issue sentences below the mandatory minimum. She also negotiated to strengthen the First Step Act, bipartisan legislation that passed in 2018, advocating to ensure it included meaningful sentencing reform, in addition to prison reform.
  • As Attorney General, Vice President Harris created the Bureau of Children's Justice to focus on children's civil rights in the child welfare, education, and juvenile justice systems.
• Police Reform:
  • As a Senator, she sponsored the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would have improved the use of pattern and practice investigations, required federal uniformed police officers to wear body cameras, banned no-knock warrants in drug cases at the federal level, and banned chokeholds and carotid holds at the federal level.
  • As Attorney General, the Vice President requested additional resources in order to investigate officer-involved shootings statewide. She also supported pattern and practice investigations. Additionally, she launched a first-of-its-kind open data platform called Open Justice, which created an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability with the public about law enforcement activities in California.
  • The Biden-Harris Administration issued the boldest policing reform executive order in history, banning chokeholds for federal officers and restricting no-knock warrants. The Administration also launched the first-ever federal database to track law enforcement officer misconduct.

After being introduced by Elliot Sweatte over the intercom VP exited the White House 3:52pm to cheers and big waves and whoops from the children front row.

VP thanked the children for letting their parents work at the White House. "The work that your parents do is about making sure that our children are happy and they're doing well and they have clean air and clean water and that they're safe."

The biggest cheer came when the VP asked the children "are all of you skipping school today?" At the shrieks of 'yes!' The VP laughed and said it was a good day.

At 3:55pm remarks wrapped and the VP started working the rope line taking photos with children and their parents. Pool was ushered back into the White House at 4:03 while the VP kept taking photos with kids.

That's all from us at Spectrum today!