On January 17, former President Joe Biden approved over 2,490 automatic pay reductions, a figure considerably lower than that granted by any previous president during their entire time in office.
In a statement regarding these actions, Biden referred to the pardon as “an important step toward correcting historical injustices, reducing sentencing disparities, and allowing deserving individuals to rejoin their families and communities after spending too long in prison.”
Among those who received a reduced sentence—despite a deputy assistant attorney general at the time noting legal concerns—was Kaia Holbert, a violent offender. In 2018, he was found guilty of several crimes, including trafficking crack cocaine and illegally possessing a firearm during drug-related activities. Previously, he had served three years for an unrelated charge of felony firearm use.
Holbert, whose remaining 13 years of a 20-year sentence were waived by President Biden, was arrested last month following a shooting incident in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. A 28-year-old man was hospitalized with injuries that, fortunately, were not life-threatening.
“Mr. Holbert should never have been allowed back into society. I just don’t understand why this administration keeps following Biden’s auto-pardon policies,” Mike Howell, Director of the Oversight Project, remarked to Blaze News. “He should have been rearrested by now, as we’ve been urging for months. I don’t think he’ll be the last to slip through the cracks.”
According to the Omaha Police Department, officers were responding to a disturbance involving a firearm early on October 4 when shots were fired. Upon request for additional units, they discovered a man with a gunshot wound and a discarded firearm nearby.
Holbert was subsequently arrested and charged with first-degree assault, illegal firearm use, and possession as a prohibited person. He has now also been indicted on federal firearms charges. The unsealed indictment claims that a forensic scientist matched Holbert’s fingerprints to the firearm, which has reportedly been used in several other violent incidents in the state.
The Omaha Police Officers Association expressed their frustration with Biden’s early release of Holbert, noting that their team had to respond quickly to prevent him from escaping or harming anyone else.
“Releasing a dangerous individual before proving they’ve been rehabilitated puts everyone—including communities, families, and police at risk. We’re thankful our members arrived in time to stop Holbert from fleeing or causing further harm,” the OPOA stated.
Attorney General Pam Bondi echoed these concerns, emphasizing, “The last-minute commutation by the Biden administration was not just a disservice to the victims’ families, but a failure to hold criminals accountable.”
“This tragic event confirms that crime doesn’t stem from weakness, and there are indeed repercussions,” Bondi asserted, noting that Nebraska prosecutors are performing the responsibilities that the prior administration neglected.
It has been reported that President Biden chose to commute Holbert’s sentence despite objections from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska, citing concerns regarding Holbert’s gang ties and extensive criminal record.
Internal emails obtained by the Oversight Project revealed that the former Deputy Attorney General criticized Biden for seemingly misleading the public about the violent backgrounds of those receiving commutations.
A statement from Biden described those granted commutations as felons “convicted of non-violent drug offenses”, although many who received commutations alongside Holbert were indeed involved in violent crimes.
- Russell McIntosh was convicted of murdering a woman and her two-year-old child in a drug-related incident.
- Adrian Peeler faced charges for conspiracy to commit murder involving an eight-year-old witness and his mother.
- Plaza Anderson, a former senior member of the Gangster Disciples, was implicated in multiple murders, attempted murder, kidnapping, and obstruction of justice.
