Trump already set to surpass his first term on issuing presidential pardons

Editor’s note: “Behind the News” is the product of Sun staff assisted by the Sun’s AI lab, which includes a variety of tools such as Anthropic’s Claude, Perplexity AI, Google Gemini and ChatGPT.

President Donald Trump has issued an unusually large number of pardons and commutations in his second term, moving much faster than most modern presidents.[1]

Public trackers and Justice Department data indicate that in his second term, Trump has granted clemency to roughly 1,600 people, the vast majority via pardons rather than commutations, largely driven by a blanket pardon to rioters facing charges for their role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as his first term was winding down.[4]

Independent counts put his formal second-term pardons at 142 with several dozen commutations, excluding the large Jan. 6 batch that some outlets count separately, and those numbers continue to rise as he takes high-profile actions like commuting the sentence of David Gentile, who was convicted of defrauding investors in a Ponzi scheme.[2] In roughly 10 months, Trump has already nearly matched the 143 pardons issued during his first term.[3]

All-time records

Franklin D. Roosevelt granted over 2,800 pardons and many additional commutations during his presidency — over 3,600 pardons and thousands of commutations across four terms — far more than any other president.[1] Barack Obama and Joe Biden granted relatively modest numbers of formal pardons (in the low hundreds between them) but very large numbers of commutations, particularly for drug offenses (over 5,800 combined).[1]

Where Trump is unusual is the concentration and profile of his grants: a very large number in less than a year back in office, and a high share going to political allies, donors or figures in culture-war battles rather than people vetted through the ordinary Justice Department clemency pipeline.[4]

Constitutional rules and process

Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution gives the president power to grant “reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”[5] This means pardons can only cover federal crimes (including court-martial offenses), not state or civil matters, and they cannot be used to undo or block impeachment.[6]

The Supreme Court has described the power as “plenary” in scope: it can reach any federal offense and can be exercised before charges, while a case is pending, or after conviction and sentencing.[7] A pardon can be full or conditional, and related tools (commutations, remissions of fines, reprieves and amnesties) are treated as forms of clemency under the same constitutional authority.[8]

In practice, most applications go through the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the Justice Department, which applies guidelines such as a waiting period after conviction and evidence of rehabilitation, but these are policy norms, not legal limits on the president.[9] The president is not required to follow the department’s process or recommendations; the decision to grant or deny clemency is ultimately discretionary, subject only to the constitutional limits.[5]

Congress cannot directly narrow the legal scope of the pardon power by ordinary legislation, but it can investigate, withhold funding for related administrative processes or impeach a president for abusing the power.[6] Courts can review specific disputes around how a pardon is applied (for example, its effect on ongoing cases or constitutional rights), even though they cannot second-guess the basic decision to grant clemency.[10]

Pardon vs. commutation

• Pardon: A full pardon forgives the federal offense, typically restoring civil rights (like the right to vote or hold federal office), and it symbolically erases the conviction for federal purposes, though records of the case still exist. A pardon generally forgives the offense and removes many federal legal disabilities, though it does not erase the historical fact of conviction or guarantee expungement of records.[1][5]
• Commutation: A commutation shortens or ends a sentence but leaves the conviction intact; the person is still legally guilty and may still owe restitution, fines or be subject to other consequences such as supervised release or immigration issues.[11][12]

Courts have held that a person may decline a pardon, and that a pardon cannot be used in a way that overrides other constitutional protections, such as forcing someone to incriminate themselves.[23]

To whom has Trump granted clemency?

Across his first and second terms, Trump has frequently used clemency for people connected to him politically or personally, plus a mix of celebrities and a smaller number of more traditional petitioners.[4]

High-profile business and finance figures:

• Ross Ulbricht: Founder of the Silk Road dark-web marketplace, serving a life sentence for drug trafficking, money laundering and related charges; Trump granted him a full and unconditional pardon on his first full day back in office in January.[13]
• Changpeng “CZ” Zhao: Binance co-founder and major crypto figure, whose clemency fit with Trump’s push to position himself as friendly to the cryptocurrency industry.[13]
• Devon Archer and Jason Galanis: Investor and former business associate of Hunter Biden, and his co-defendant, both convicted in a tribal bond fraud case; Trump granted clemency in March.[13]
• Todd and Julie Chrisley: Reality-TV personalities and real estate investors convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion; both received pardons in May after their daughter campaigned for Trump and appeared at the 2024 GOP convention.[13]
• Lawrence Duran: Former owner of American Therapeutic Corp., sentenced to 50 years for a massive Medicare fraud; Trump commuted his sentence this year.[13]
• Joseph Schwartz: New Jersey nursing-home operator convicted of failing to remit employment taxes and file required benefit plan reports; he received a pardon in November.[14]
• David Gentile: A former investment manager convicted in a large Ponzi-style fraud involving about $1.6 billion and thousands of investors; Trump commuted his seven-year sentence less than two weeks after he entered federal prison, drawing criticism that a wealthy fraudster was favored over ordinary clemency petitioners.[11][12]

GOP politicians and political insiders:

• Rod Blagojevich: Former Illinois governor whose 14-year corruption sentence Trump had previously commuted; Trump followed up with a full pardon in February.[24]
• George Santos: Former New York congressman convicted of multiple fraud and campaign-finance offenses; Trump commuted his prison sentence in October, only months after he began serving it.[16]
• Rudy Giuliani: Trump’s former personal lawyer and a central figure in post-2020 election challenges; preemptively pardoned in November for conduct tied to the fake-elector effort.[25]

Fake electors and election-overturn effort:

On Nov. 9, Trump issued a sweeping set of preemptive pardons for people involved in the “fake electors” schemes and related efforts to reverse the 2020 election result. For figures involved in these schemes, Trump has used a mix of individual pardons and commutations, particularly for federal charges such as conspiracy or obstruction, while state cases remain outside his direct clemency power. These grants are often framed by Trump and his allies as correcting what they describe as politically motivated prosecutions, even when courts and independent prosecutors have affirmed the underlying evidence.[1][25]

Trump pardoned all six of Nevada’s so-called “fake electors” involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. They are:

• Michael McDonald (Nevada GOP chair)
• Jim DeGraffenreid (Republican national committeeman)
• Jesse Law (former Clark County GOP chair)
• Jim Hindle (Nevada GOP vice chair)
• Shawn Meehan
• Eileen Rice

These pardons cover any potential federal charges but do not affect ongoing state-level prosecutions in Nevada, where all six are still facing charges related to the scheme.[15]

Other notable names in the Nov. 9 group include:

• Jenna Ellis: Attorney who worked on Trump’s postelection legal efforts; pardoned for fake-elector-related conduct.[25]
• Boris Epshteyn: Senior Trump adviser involved in election-strategy and fake-elector discussions; preemptively pardoned.[25]
• Multiple state-level fake electors and operatives, such as Andrew Hitt, Jake Hoffman, Stanley Grot and others named in the proclamation, all covered for their roles in signing or organizing alternate elector certificates.[20]

Jan. 6 and political-movement cases:

Trump issued a sweeping pardon for Jan. 6 defendants early in his second term, which is estimated to cover more than 1,500 people convicted or charged in connection with the Capitol attack. That blanket action has undone many prison sentences and monetary penalties, and the Justice Department’s normal clemency review process played little or no role in those decisions.[4][17]

Notable names included:

• Stewart Rhodes: Founder of the Oath Keepers, a Las Vegas resident as a youth and UNLV graduate, effectively releasing him from his lengthy federal prison sentence for seditious conspiracy related to the Jan. 6 attack. [21]
• Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the Proud Boys, was also released due to Trump’s executive clemency after serving a part of his 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan. 6 incident.[21]

Expected pardon:

Juan Orlando Hernández: Trump has publicly said he will issue a full pardon to the former Honduran president, who is serving a 45-year U.S. sentence for cocaine-trafficking and weapons offenses; critics say pardoning a foreign leader tied to large-scale drug smuggling would be an extraordinary use of the power.[19]

Financial impact and criticism

Wealthy or high-profile white-collar offenders, including investment and securities fraud defendants whose pardons wiped out large restitution and fines; congressional Democrats estimate his second-term grants have canceled more than $1.3 billion in restitution and penalties.[4]

Democratic lawmakers and many legal scholars argue that Trump is abusing clemency to protect allies, reward donors and advance his political narrative rather than to remedy excessive or unjust sentences. A report by Democratic staff on the House Judiciary Committee concluded that his second-term pardons and commutations have wiped out over $1.3 billion in restitution and fines, undermining accountability to victims; the White House has dismissed the report as partisan.[4]

Critics also warn that blanket pardons for Jan. 6 rioters and clemency for election-related defendants weaken deterrence for future attacks on democratic institutions and signal that political violence and election subversion may be excused when aligned with the president’s interests. Civil rights and good-government groups further argue that bypassing the established pardon-review system leaves thousands of ordinary applicants in limbo while high-profile insiders receive favorable treatment.[1]

Sources

[1] https://cnsmaryland.org/interactives/fall2025/pardons/index.html

[2] https://news.ballotpedia.org/2025/11/12/president-donald-trump-r-has-issued-142-pardons-in-second-term-so-far/

[3] https://www.prisonology.com/blog/trump-makes-news-with-more-pardons-and-commutations

[4] https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-pardons-clemency-george-santos-ed-martin

[5] https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii

[6] https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-2/section-2/clause-1/overview-of-pardon-power

[7] https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S2-C1-3-1/ALDE_00013316/

[8] https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-2/section-2/clause-1/scope-of-the-pardon-power

[9] https://www.justice.gov/pardon/frequently-asked-questions

[10] https://protectdemocracy.org/work/the-presidential-pardon-power-explained/

[11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5K_Jhyu9Zs

[12] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/us/politics/trump-david-gentile-commutation.html

[13] https://www.businessinsider.com/list-billionaires-businesspeople-donald-trump-pardoned-changpeng-zhao-ross-ulbricht-2025-11

[14] https://www.justice.gov/pardon/clemency-grants-president-donald-j-trump-2025-present

[15] https://lasvegassun.com/news/2025/nov/10/trump-pardons-nevada-fake-electors-state-charges-s/

[16] https://www.newsweek.com/list-of-trumps-pardons-and-commutations-for-gop-lawmakers-10900810

[17] https://www.npr.org/2025/11/10/nx-s1-5587875/trump-pardons-insider-political-orbit-second-term

[18] https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2025/11/10/trumps-pardon-list-here-are-the-big-time-donors-and-allies-hes-sprung-free/

[19] https://apnews.com/article/trump-hernandez-honduras-pardon-96ac8d1d44d438f64beb8b24ca54b651

[20] https://lailluminator.com/2022/01/31/trumps-fake-electors-heres-the-full-list/

[21] https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-trump-pardons-jan-6-f6e23bcd84eaed672318c88f05286767

[22] https://ballotpedia.org/Executive_clemency_and_presidential_pardons

[23] https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-2/section-2/clause-1/rejection-of-a-pardon

[24] https://www.npr.org/2025/02/10/g-s1-47817/trump-pardon-rod-blagojevich-illinois-corruption

[25] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-pardons-dozens-overturn-2020-election-results-false-electors/

[26] https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/six-defendants-convicted-federal-civil-rights-conspiracy-and-freedom-access-clinic-entrances