Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump is on a clemency spree, issuing four pardons to white-collar criminals this week, some of whom have connections to his administration.
What just happened? Trump pardoned two reality TV stars and a former Virginia sheriff convicted of fraud earlier this week. Today, he also pardoned a labor union leader convicted of failing to report more than $300,000 in gifts.
Why do these pardons matter? Trump’s pardons have — at the very least — the appearance of corruption. Not only is he giving the imprimatur of presidential clemency to those convicted of fraud, but another pardon, issued in April, came shortly after the recipient's mother donated $1 million to a Trump-affiliated super PAC. Savannah Chrisley, whose parents were pardoned Tuesday, was also a speaker at the Republican National Convention in 2024.
At the Justice Department, Trump’s pardon attorney, Ed Martin, tweeted “No MAGA left behind” this week, followed by a threaded tweet praising Trump for pardoning the sheriff.
Who else has Trump pardoned? Lots of people. Trump began his term with a sweeping grant of clemency to some 1,500 January 6 rioters, and has also pardoned people like pro-Trump Las Vegas city council member Michele Fiore, Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, and other white-collar criminals.
Trump also said today he is considering pardoning the men who planned to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020; Martin has previously commented that, “On the pardon front, we can’t leave these guys behind.”
Is all of this legal? Seemingly: As my colleague Abdallah Fayyad has explained, while the presidential pardon power is often abused — and not just by Trump — it’s also extremely broad. He argues there’s a strong case for reforming the power, but doing so will be an uphill battle.
