often foreign countries not very friendly to us. reporter: and the president isn t just taking action on the environment. he s also preparing to transfer an additional 17 or 18 inmates from the u.s. prison at gat moe bay cuba to other countries according to the new york times, slashing the remaining population there by nearly a third though stopping shorpt of his 2008 campaign promise to close the prison. it will be judged harshly by history and i ll continue to do all i can to remove this blot on our national honor. reporter: obama also this week granting clemency to 230 people, mostly drug offenders t most ever in one day. bringing the total record to a new record for any presidency. the white house signaling more acts of the clemency to come. all part of a broader criminal justice reform effort.