| President | Term (Years) | Total Pardons | Total Commutations | Total Clemency Acts |
| Donald Trump (Total) | ~5 | ~1,740* | ~122 | ~1,862 |
| Joe Biden | 4 | 80 | 4,165 | 4,245 |
| Barack Obama | 8 | 212 | 1,715 | 1,927 |
| George W. Bush | 8 | 189 | 11 | 200 |
| Bill Clinton | 8 | 396 | 61 | 457 |
| Ronald Reagan | 8 | 393 | 13 | 406 |
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Pardon Attorney
* This includes a mass grant of clemency on January 20, 2025, to approximately 1,500 people charged, convicted, or sentenced for participation in the January 6 United States Capitol coup attempt.
Does something stand out and punch you in the face? Like, most of all the other presidents commuted sentences or granted pardons, but there are key differences in the approach. What exactly is the difference? A pardon is an act of forgiveness and can be done at any time, even before the trial or conviction and after the sentence is served, while a commuted sentence means the individual gets out of jail at that point in time.
Who are some of those Trump pardon? He has granted pardons to many of his close political allies. You know many of the names: Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman, Sidney Powell, Jeffrey Clark, and others. For these individuals, loyalty clearly pays
Then we have the pardons granted to convicted drug leaders. This is in direct contradiction to President Trump's escalated rhetoric against "drug runners" and his calls for the death penalty for drug dealers.
For example, he pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who was serving a double life sentence plus 40 years for underlying crimes involving massive, illicit transactions, including drugs and weapons.
PBS NewsBrian MannMay 31, 2025President Trump has long called for escalating the U.S. drug war against Mexican cartels and wants tougher penalties for dealers selling fentanyl and other street drugs in American communities. "I am ready for it, the death penalty, if you deal drugs," Trump said during a meeting with state governors in February, where he said dealers are too often treated with a "slap on the wrist."But despite his tough rhetoric, Trump has sparked controversy by pardoning a growing number of convicted drug dealers, including this week's move to grant clemency to Larry Hoover, 74, who was serving multiple life sentences in federal prison for crimes linked to his role leading the Chicago-based Gangster Disciples.Already during the early months of his second term, Trump has granted clemency to at least eight individuals convicted on federal drug charges. Some, including Hoover, have extensive criminal records involving violence and gun charges."There's a lot of mixed messages and mixed signals [from the White House] which creates sort of chaos and uncertainty," said Jeffrey Singer, a drug policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank. "On the one hand you're threatening even tougher penalties on people who deal in drugs, while on the other hand you're releasing drug dealers from prisons."
Meanwhile, being rich also helps in securing clemency from President Trump. The case of Changpeng Zhao ("CZ") is notable: he pleaded guilty to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering requirements.
Historically, before a presidential pardon or commutation, cases are reviewed by the Office of the Pardon Attorney. With Trump, this step is often bypassed. Similarly, while others show remorse or have made restitution, with many of Trump's pardons, there is no such evidence. These actions strengthen the strong accusations of "Pay-to-Play" tied to campaign donations.
From Trump's first term, the case of Paul Pogue is often cited: Pogue pleaded guilty in 2010 to filing a false tax return and underpaid his taxes by over $400,000. While he had served his three years' probation, his son went on to donate $5,600 (a maxed-out personal contribution) to the Trump presidential campaign and $85,000 to Trump Victory. Result: a full pardon.
ForbesBy Alison Durkee,Nov 10, 2025ToplinePresident Donald Trump pardoned dozens of Republicans late Sunday who helped his efforts to overturn the 2020 election—many of whom also worked for him or gave money to his campaign—the latest pardons and commutations in Trump’s second term granted to people with direct political or financial ties to the president.Many of Trump’s pardons and commutations in his second term have been for people who support him politically, though FEC filings suggest many haven’t given his campaign any notable donations. Former Nevada politician Michelle Fiore was known as a longtime Trump supporter prior to the president pardoning her—even earning the nickname “Lady Trump”—and he had previously endorsed her in a race for state treasurer while she had spread his false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin described Trump’s pardon of former Virginia sheriff Scott Howard Jenkins as showing, “No MAGA left behind,” while former Republican Rep. Michael Grimm earned a pardon after speaking out in Trump’s favor and becoming an on-air personality for Trump-friendly Newsmax. Former Tennessee state Sen. Brian Kelsey, indicted on campaign finance-related crimes, was pardoned after he repeatedly praised Trump on social media and later went to work as a lawyer for America First Policy Institute, a right-wing think tank widely credited for helping to spearhead Trump’s presidential transition. Most notably, Trump’s first pardons after his inauguration were blanket pardons to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol building, after rioters stormed the Capitol in protest of Trump’s loss in the 2020 election. The president also commuted the sentences of 14 people who were convicted of harsher crimes related to Jan. 6, including leaders of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, though none are shown to have donated significant amounts to Trump’s campaign.
The key question remains: are these actions a legal exercise of constitutional power, or an ethical abuse of office? Legal vs. Ethical... only time will tell.
[/Editorial]
Updated: Noon
CBS NewsBy Brit McCandless FarmerNovember 16, 2025President Trump has changed the pardon process in his second term to reward the wealthy and well-connected, according to former Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer."All of the traditional rules and procedures pertaining to pardons have been thrown out the window," Oyer said in an interview with 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley. "This administration appears to be working around the Justice Department rather than with the Justice Department to vet and review applications for pardons."Oyer oversaw pardon applications at the Justice Department from 2022 until this past spring. She said the Justice Department standards and requirements are being overlooked in the president's second administration."I understood that clemency was going to be conducted entirely out of the White House without input from the Office of the Pardon Attorney," Oyer said. "This was a departure from over 100 years of practice."Oyer was fired in March after she says she opposed restoring gun rights to actor and Trump supporter Mel Gibson, who had been convicted of domestic battery. She has since become a vocal critic of the Trump administration. The Office of the Pardon Attorney, which had traditionally been staffed by nonpolitical appointees, is now run by Ed Martin, an ally of Mr. Trump.[...]"There has cropped up what many experts have referred to as a 'pardon economy,'" she said. "Individuals who have political connections to the president are leveraging those connections to establish businesses lobbying for pardons. And applications are going straight to the president."
"Cha-ching"
Updated 11/20 @ 7AM
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