Abuse of pardon power
Using the pardon or clemency power for personal, financial, or political benefit rather than the interests of justice -- including pardons for allies, family, or oneself; pardons for strangers who made political donations; or blanket pardons issued to advance a political narrative rather than correct individual injustices.
2026 Events (7)
Trump pardoned Adam Kidan, Abramoff-scandal figure and Republican fundraiser host, for his 2005 fraud conviction
On July 3, 2026, President Trump pardoned Adam Kidan, a former business partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff who pleaded guilty in 2005 to fraud and conspiracy in the SunCruz gambling-boat scandal and was sentenced to nearly six years in prison. Kidan, who reporting indicates helped host a 2026 Mar-a-Lago fundraiser for a Long Island Republican congressional candidate, was among 11 people granted clemency that day.
Trump pardoned six people prosecuted for Clean Air Act 'defeat device' emissions violations
On July 3, 2026, President Trump announced pardons for six people who had been prosecuted for disabling vehicle emissions controls in violation of the Clean Air Act, describing the cases as an act of "weaponization and stupidity" by federal prosecutors. A lawyer and a lobbyist representing five of the six defendants — Ryan and Wade Lalone, Matt Geouge, Tim Clancy, and Mac Spurlock — identified them to CBS News after the White House declined to release the names. The clemency followed an organized advocacy campaign and came after the Justice Department earlier in 2026 ordered prosecutors to drop all pending "defeat device" cases and after Trump pardoned a similar Wyoming defendant last fall.
New York Times reported Trump DOJ appointees killed criminal probe into alleged payments for Gentile commutation
On June 21, 2026, the New York Times reported that Trump administration DOJ appointees shut down a criminal probe examining whether improper payments secured David Gentile's November 2025 commutation. Gentile, convicted of operating a $1.6 billion Ponzi scheme, was freed within two weeks of beginning a seven-year sentence. The probe ended abruptly after the Times began asking the White House and federal prosecutors about the investigation.
Trump pardons ex-Rep. Stephen Buyer, convicted of insider trading, after GOP lobbying campaign
On June 4, 2026, President Donald Trump granted a "full, complete, and unconditional" pardon to Stephen Buyer, a former Republican congressman from Indiana convicted in 2023 of securities fraud for two insider-trading schemes, sentenced to 22 months, and ordered to forfeit more than $350,000. The proclamation cites the "advice and recommendation" of more than 50 current and former Republican members of Congress, whose letters — which Trump amplified on Truth Social on May 31 — cast the jury conviction as Biden-administration "lawfare" against a "deep state" target.
DOJ order bars IRS from auditing Trump, his family, and their businesses for prior tax returns
On May 19, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a one-page order, signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and not co-signed by the IRS, declaring the federal government "forever barred and precluded" from pursuing tax examinations of President Donald Trump, his relatives, trusts, and businesses for returns filed before the underlying settlement's effective date. The order expanded the previously announced $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" settlement — under which Trump and his adult sons dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS — and effectively forecloses a long-running audit that, per earlier reporting, could have produced an IRS bill exceeding $100 million. The DOJ later said the bar applies only to existing audits, not to returns Trump files in the future.
Colorado Gov. Polis commutes Tina Peters' election-tampering sentence after Trump pressure campaign
On May 15, 2026, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted the nine-year prison sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, convicted in 2024 of tampering with the county's election equipment, ordering her release on parole June 1, 2026 -- roughly halving her sentence. The commutation followed a months-long public pressure campaign by President Donald Trump that combined personal insults of Polis ("Scumbag Governor"), threats to federal disaster aid and federal program placements in Colorado, and repeated demands on Truth Social to "FREE TINA!" Peters's conviction was a state offense and so sat outside Trump's federal pardon power; clemency could come only from Polis.
Trump pardoned three defendants in a Puerto Rico bank-regulator bribery scheme, including banker Herrera Velutini and ex-Gov. Vázquez
On January 16, 2026, President Trump pardoned three co-defendants in a Puerto Rico bank-regulator bribery scheme: Venezuelan-Italian banker Julio Herrera Velutini, former Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced, and former FBI agent Mark Rossini. Prosecutors had alleged that Herrera Velutini arranged roughly $300,000 in support for Vázquez's 2020 reelection campaign in exchange for firing a banking regulator investigating his bank. The pardons wiped out the cases, including Vázquez's guilty plea to reduced campaign-finance charges.
2025 Events (10)
Trump pardoned Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke of a bid-rigging charge brought by his own DOJ
On December 3, 2025, President Donald Trump pardoned Tim Leiweke, former Oak View Group CEO, of a criminal Sherman Antitrust Act bid-rigging charge that Trump's own Justice Department had brought in July 2025 over the Moody Center arena project in Austin, Texas. The pardon came one day before Leiweke was scheduled to be deposed in a separate DOJ civil antitrust case against Live Nation, in which a DOJ attorney had told the court he held "unique individual knowledge." Oak View Group had donated $250,000 to Trump's 2025 inauguration, and former Rep. Trey Gowdy had lobbied Trump on Leiweke's behalf.
Trump pardoned Joseph Schwartz, nursing-home chain owner convicted in $39M tax fraud, after $960,000 lobbying push
On November 14, 2025, President Trump granted Joseph Schwartz, former owner of the 95-facility Skyline Healthcare nursing-home chain, a full and unconditional pardon for his April 2025 guilty plea to a roughly $38-39 million employment tax fraud scheme. Schwartz had served about three months of a three-year federal sentence; disclosure filings show he paid lobbyists Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl $960,000 to seek the pardon, and the Office of the Pardon Attorney gave no public reasoning for the clemency.
Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao whose exchange settled a $2B MGX deal via Trump family stablecoin
President Trump granted Binance founder Changpeng Zhao a full and unconditional pardon on October 21, 2025, clearing a 2023 guilty plea for failing to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program as Binance CEO. Zhao's company had built a documented financial relationship with the Trump family's World Liberty Financial crypto venture in 2025, including a $2 billion investment from Abu Dhabi's MGX settled through WLFI's USD1 stablecoin, and a separate stablecoin listing that coincided with the SEC dropping its lawsuit against Binance.
Trump commutes George Santos sentence after three months of seven-year wire fraud term
President Trump commuted the federal prison sentence of former Republican Congressman George Santos on October 17, 2025, releasing him after he had served approximately three months of a seven-year sentence. Santos had pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft charges stemming from his 2022 congressional campaign. The commutation came after lobbying by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and other MAGA-aligned figures; Santos's conviction remains on his record, but his prison term ended.
President Trump commuted donor Imaad Zuberi's sentence, voiding his prison term and about $16 million in restitution
On May 28, 2025, President Trump commuted the 12-year federal sentence of political donor Imaad Zuberi, who had pleaded guilty to illegal campaign contributions, acting as an undisclosed foreign agent, tax evasion, and obstructing the probe of Trump's 2017 inaugural committee. The commutation freed Zuberi years into his term and, by its terms, voided a nearly $2 million fine and roughly $16 million in restitution owed to victims.
Trump pardoned tax felon Paul Walczak weeks after his mother paid $1M for Mar-a-Lago access
President Trump granted Paul Walczak a full and unconditional pardon on April 23, 2025, for failing to remit roughly $7.5 million in employee payroll taxes and failing to file individual income tax returns, a total tax loss to the IRS of about $10.9 million. The pardon came 12 days after Walczak was sentenced to 18 months in prison and $4.4 million in restitution, and roughly three weeks after his mother, Trump fundraiser Elizabeth Fago, paid $1 million to attend a Mar-a-Lago candlelight dinner where Trump was the featured guest.
President Trump pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton, foreclosing restitution sought for defrauded investors
On March 27, 2025, President Trump pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton, who had been convicted by a jury of securities and wire fraud for misleading investors about his company's technology. Milton and his wife had given more than $1.8 million to a Trump reelection fund shortly before the 2024 election, and the pardon foreclosed hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution prosecutors were seeking for defrauded investors. At a news conference Trump said Milton was targeted for having been an early supporter.
Trump pardoned Devon Archer, a Hunter Biden associate, remitting $43M restitution for his tribal-bond fraud conviction
On March 25, 2025, President Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon to Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, remitting $43 million in restitution and $15 million in asset forfeiture ordered after Archer's conviction for diverting roughly $60 million raised through bonds issued by the Oglala Sioux Nation's Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation. Archer, sentenced to one year and one day, never served time before the pardon. Trump tied the clemency to Archer's 2023 congressional testimony about Hunter Biden.
DOJ fired pardon attorney Liz Oyer after she refused to restore Mel Gibson's gun rights
On March 7, 2025, then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's office fired Justice Department Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer via a three-sentence memo, hours after she declined to recommend restoring the firearm rights of actor Mel Gibson, a Trump ally with a 2011 domestic-violence conviction. Attorney General Pam Bondi's office restored Gibson's gun rights the following month. Oyer has since testified publicly, including before the Senate Judiciary Committee in July 2026, that she was fired for refusing to carry out the favor.
Trump pardons roughly 1,500 January 6 Capitol attack defendants and commutes 14 sentences
On January 20, 2025, his first day back in office, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation granting a "full, complete and unconditional" pardon to roughly 1,500 people convicted of or charged with offenses related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and commuted the sentences of 14 others to time served. The clemency reached leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers — including Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, both convicted of seditious conspiracy — and defendants convicted of assaulting police. Trump also directed the Justice Department to dismiss the remaining pending Capitol-riot prosecutions.