Pardons and Clemency

Updated2026-11-09 Covers2025-01-20 to 2026-11-08

Summary

Trump has granted clemency to more than 1,700 people.¹ Clemency means a pardon, which forgives a federal crime, or a commutation, which shortens a sentence. The people include about 1,600 January 6 defendants and 77 people involved in the 2020 alternate (“fake”) elector slates. They also include more than 20 politicians convicted of corruption, crypto executives, donors and nine corporations.²,³,⁴,⁵ A June 11, 2026 Reuters review found that 96% of the grants did not meet longstanding Department of Justice (DOJ) guidelines.¹,⁸⁵ In April 2026 a Colorado appeals court ruled in People v. Peters that Trump’s “pardon” of Tina Peters did not reach her state conviction.¹⁰,⁷³ An August 2026 House Judiciary Democratic staff report documented clemency seekers paying lobbyists and lawyers to press their cases with the White House. A September 60 Minutes hidden-camera investigation documented the same thing.⁶,⁷ As of November 2026 there is no way to reverse a federal pardon. Two matters remain open: a congressional Democratic “pay-to-play” inquiry and a possible clemency request from Ghislaine Maxwell.⁸,⁹

Background

The Constitution’s Pardon Clause (Article II, § 2, cl. 1) gives the President the power to grant reprieves and pardons for “Offences against the United States,” except in cases of impeachment.¹⁰,⁶⁶ A reprieve delays a punishment. A pardon forgives the crime. The power covers federal crimes only. It does not reach convictions under state law.¹⁰ Before 2025 most requests went through DOJ’s Office of the Pardon Attorney. That office applies guidelines on remorse, waiting periods and input from victims.¹¹ Those steps are set by a DOJ rule, not by a law passed by Congress (28 C.F.R. Part 1). The rule is advisory, meaning it is guidance only. It does not limit the President’s power under the Constitution.⁶⁷

What happened

The Pardon Attorney office

On Feb 20, 2025 Trump named Alice Marie Johnson the White House “pardon czar.”¹¹ On Mar 7, 2025 Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer was fired.¹² She says she had refused to recommend giving actor Mel Gibson back his right to own guns. She says she was then told that Gibson “is a friend of the president and that should be justification enough.”¹² DOJ said the paperwork firing her was dated before the Gibson email.¹² On May 8, 2025 Ed Martin became Pardon Attorney.¹³ His departure in August 2026 and the office’s later gun-rights program are covered in the Status table below.⁴⁵,⁴⁶

January 6 defendants

On Jan 20, 2025 Trump pardoned about 1,600 January 6 defendants. About 600 of them had been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers.² He also commuted the sentences of 14 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members to the time they had already served. They included Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio is not among the 14. Tarrio’s 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy, a plot to oppose the government’s authority by force, was the longest in any January 6 case. He is covered by the pardon of all other convicted defendants.² On Nov 14, 2025 two pardons extended the January 6 clemency to convictions that were not for riot crimes. Suzanne Kaye had served 18 months for threatening to shoot FBI agents. She was never charged with a riot crime. Daniel Wilson was serving five years for being a felon in possession of firearms. The guns were found in a search related to January 6.⁵⁸ The White House described Kaye’s case as prosecution of disfavored political speech.⁵⁸ In February DOJ had argued that the January 6 pardon did not cover Wilson’s gun crimes. Then DOJ reversed itself, citing “further clarity on the intent of the Presidential Pardon.” Judge Dabney Friedrich called the reversal “extraordinary.”⁵⁸ (The third Nov 14 pardon, for Schwartz, is covered under Donors below.)

Some pardoned January 6 defendants were later arrested again. By June 2026 a Lawfare review cited by PBS counted 97 Capitol-riot defendants with new arrests, charges or convictions.³⁴ On Oct 18, 2025 New York State Police arrested Christopher Moynihan. Moynihan, pardoned on Jan 20, 2025, had been sentenced to 21 months for his role in the riot. Police charged him with making a terroristic threat against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Court records say he had texted “I will kill him for the future.”⁸⁹ Jake Lang was arrested at a Minneapolis protest on Aug 22, 2026. Hennepin County declined to bring felony charges against him. On Nov 2–4, 2026 Cleveland Meredith Jr. was charged with threatening to execute the judges who handled Capitol riot cases.³⁵,³⁶

Alternate electors and preemptive pardons

On Mar 16/17, 2025 Trump posted that some of Biden’s pardons were “VOID” because they were signed by autopen, a machine that copies a person’s signature. These were Biden’s preemptive pardons, given before any charges, of Mark Milley, Anthony Fauci, Liz Cheney and the January 6 committee.¹⁵ On May 16, 2025 House Oversight Chairman James Comer announced that his committee would keep investigating two things. One was what he called a cover-up of Biden’s mental decline. The other was Biden’s use of an autopen, including for the pardons of Biden’s final days in office. Comer said there were “serious concerns that President Biden lacked the mental capacity to authorize those actions.”⁹⁴ On May 22 Comer sent letters to Biden’s former doctor, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, and four former aides: Neera Tanden, Anthony Bernal, Annie Tomasini and Ashley Williams. He asked them to sit for transcribed interviews.⁹⁵ On June 4, 2025 a presidential memorandum, a written instruction from the President, ordered an investigation. It directed the White House Counsel, working with the Attorney General, to look into whether Biden aides hid his condition. It also asked which documents were signed by autopen and at whose direction. That night Biden said he made the decisions himself. He called the suggestion otherwise “ridiculous and false.”⁹¹ On June 5 Comer issued O’Connor a subpoena, a legal order to testify, for a deposition, which is questioning under oath. O’Connor had turned down a voluntary interview.⁹⁶ Three witnesses then used their Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer questions that could be used against them in a criminal case. They did so at their House Oversight depositions. O’Connor did so on July 9. His lawyer said that revealing confidential patient information would break a doctor’s ethical duty. Bernal, former chief of staff to First Lady Jill Biden, did so on July 16. Tomasini, Biden’s former deputy chief of staff, did so on July 18.⁹⁷,⁹⁸,⁹⁹ Their refusals showed “a pattern of key Biden confidants seeking to shield themselves from criminal liability,” Comer said. A memo from the committee’s Democrats said using the right “is in no way an admission of wrongdoing.”⁹⁹ In all, 14 former Biden officials sat for interviews or depositions. The first was Tanden on June 24. She “was also authorized to direct that autopen signatures be affixed to certain categories of documents,” she told the committee. That means she could have the autopen used on some kinds of papers. The last was former chief of staff Jeff Zients on Sept 18. He described approving by phone the use of the autopen for the Jan 19, 2025 pardons.¹⁰⁰,¹⁰¹,¹⁰² On Oct 28, 2025 the committee’s Republican majority released a 100-page staff report. It is titled “The Biden Autopen Presidency,” and it “deems void all executive actions signed by the autopen without proper, corresponding, contemporaneous, written approval traceable to the president’s own consent.” In other words, the report treats those actions as having no legal force. Comer asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to have DOJ review all of Biden’s executive actions, especially clemency. He also asked DOJ to look closely at O’Connor, Tomasini and Bernal, the three aides who had invoked the Fifth Amendment. And he referred O’Connor to the D.C. Board of Medicine.¹⁰² NBC noted that a congressional committee cannot formally declare a presidential action void. Bondi posted that her team had “already initiated a review” of Biden’s reported autopen use for pardons. The majority “failed to produce any evidence to support their allegations,” committee Democrats said. A Biden spokesperson said there was “no conspiracy, no cover-up, and no wrongdoing.”¹⁰² On Nov 28, 2025 Trump posted that “Any document signed by Sleepy Joe Biden with the Autopen, which was approximately 92% of them, is hereby terminated, and of no further force or effect.” CBS noted that a 2005 Justice Department opinion said presidents can legally use an autopen to sign bills into law.¹⁰³ On Dec 2 he went further. All documents signed by autopen in Biden’s administration “are hereby null, void, and of no further force or effect,” he posted. He told people who had received “Pardons” and “Commutations” that their documents had been “fully and completely terminated.”¹⁰⁴ PolitiFact rated False the claim that Trump can revoke the pardons. It quoted University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt: “It is well settled that once there is a pardon,” no president, Congress or court “can undo it.” Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade wrote that “Trump does not have the legal authority to void pardons.”¹⁰⁴ On Mar 4, 2026 NBC News reported that DOJ had shelved, or set aside, its criminal investigation of Biden’s autopen use. Ed Martin had opened it while he was interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. It was never presented to a grand jury, the group of citizens who decide whether to charge someone with a crime. A person briefed on the matter said it is hard to bring a criminal case without a readily identifiable and applicable criminal law.¹⁰⁵

On Nov 7–9, 2025 Trump issued Proclamation 10989, a formal public announcement by the President. It pardoned 77 people involved in the 2020 alternate-elector slates in advance, before any charges. They included Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows and John Eastman. The pardon covers conduct “relating to the advice, creation, organization, execution, submission… of any slate or proposed slate of Presidential electors.”³ It states that it “does not apply to the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.”³ None of the people named had faced federal charges. A federal pardon does not affect the state cases in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin.³ Martin announced it on X: “No MAGA left behind.”⁹² On Apr 10, 2026 the Wall Street Journal, as cited by Election Law Blog, reported that Trump had repeatedly promised senior aides pardons before he leaves office. It quoted him telling a meeting, “I’ll pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval.”⁹⁰ On Nov 2, 2026 Trump was asked about protective pardons on the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast. The question was about pardons for Elon Musk, White House staff and allies, in case Democrats investigated them. Trump said: “I would not even think about it. I’d do it… I did it for J6.”⁶⁵ According to the report, Musk had put about $445 million into 2026 pro-Republican super PACs, which are political groups that can spend unlimited money.⁶⁵ In a 60 Minutes interview aired Nov 8, 2026, Trump said, “I intend to issue tremendous numbers of pardons.” He said anybody who “got within a thousand miles of the Oval Office” could get one, but he named no one. Asked whether he has the power to pardon himself, he called it “not unreasonable” but said he does not expect to.¹⁰⁸

Officials, police and political allies

On Jan 22, 2025 Trump pardoned two D.C. police officers convicted over the 2020 death of Karon Hylton-Brown during a police chase. Terence Sutton was convicted of second-degree murder, conspiracy and obstruction and sentenced to 66 months. Andrew Zabavsky was convicted of conspiracy and obstruction and sentenced to 48 months.⁵⁰ The D.C. Police Union said it was “actively working with the White House” on the pardons.⁵⁰ On Jan 23 he pardoned anti-abortion activists convicted for blocking clinics. They had been convicted under two federal laws. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act makes it a crime to use force, threats or physical blocking to keep people from reproductive health services.⁷¹ The conspiracy-against-rights law makes it a crime to plot to threaten or intimidate people for using their rights.⁷² DOJ’s warrant list, its record of signed grants, shows 24 pardons (the press counted 23). The longest sentence, 57 months, belonged to Lauren Handy.⁵¹ The Thomas More Society had asked for 21 of the pardons.⁵¹ On Feb 10 he pardoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat.⁴,⁷⁸ On Mar 11 he pardoned Brian Kelsey, a former Republican state senator in Tennessee. Kelsey had pleaded guilty in a scheme to move $91,000 to a national political group for ads supporting his 2016 run for Congress. The money was $66,000 from his state Senate campaign committee and $25,000 from a legal-policy nonprofit. He was serving a 21-month sentence. Kelsey said: “God used Donald Trump to save me from the weaponized Biden DOJ.”⁸⁷ Also in March he pardoned Devon Archer, a former business partner of Hunter Biden. Staff Secretary Will Scharf explained the pardon. He said the case’s “tone and tenor… changed dramatically after he began to cooperate with congressional investigators and serve as a witness against Hunter Biden and the Biden family.”¹⁸ On Apr 23 he pardoned Michele Fiore, a Nevada Republican politician and justice of the peace, before she was sentenced for wire fraud. She had been convicted of taking more than $70,000 given for memorial statues of fallen Las Vegas police officers. Prosecutors said she spent it on herself.⁸⁸ On May 26 he announced a pardon for Sheriff Scott Jenkins. It came the day before Jenkins was to begin a 10-year sentence for bribery. Trump wrote that Jenkins had been “dragged through HELL” by the “Biden DOJ.” DOJ’s warrant is dated May 27.²⁰,⁴,⁵² The May 28 batch of 22 grants included former Rep. Michael Grimm and former Gov. John Rowland. It also included Imaad Zuberi, who had given $900,000 to the inauguration.²¹ On May 29 DOJ’s warrant pardoned former Arkansas state senator Jeremy Hutchinson, who was serving an eight-year sentence for bribery.²²,⁷⁹ Zuberi’s commutation was amended, or changed, on Oct 1, 2025.⁵³

DOJ’s list shows seven pardons on Nov 7, 2025. They included former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada, convicted on 17 counts including wire fraud and money laundering. They also included his aide Cade Cothren. The case was about a kickback scheme, a scheme of secret payments in return for business, run through a mail vendor paid with taxpayer money.⁵⁵,⁸⁰ The same batch included former NYPD sergeant Michael McMahon. In 2023 he was convicted of acting as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China and of stalking across state lines. The case was part of “Operation Fox Hunt,” Beijing’s campaign to force dissidents and fugitives to return home. He had been sentenced in April 2025 to 18 months.⁵⁶ Reps. Mike Lawler and Pete Sessions had written a letter supporting his claim that he was innocent. They backed his wife’s campaign for clemency.⁵⁶ The batch also included Robert Harshbarger Jr., husband of Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN). Trump had endorsed her for re-election days earlier. In 2013 Robert Harshbarger had pleaded guilty to charges of selling misbranded drugs and health-care fraud. He got 48 months and had to repay $848,504 in restitution, which is money paid back to victims.⁵⁷ AP reported that Rep. Harshbarger was a corporate officer of the company that sold the drugs. A White House official called the case “excessive prosecution” of a common compounding practice, in which pharmacies mix drugs to order.⁵⁷ On Dec 3 Trump pardoned Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and his wife before their trial on bribery, conspiracy and money-laundering charges. He told Cuellar he could “sleep well tonight.” DOJ’s warrant is dated Dec 2.²⁹,⁵⁹ When Cuellar filed to run for re-election as a Democrat, Trump complained of a “lack of LOYALTY.”²⁹ On Dec 11 Trump announced a “pardon” for Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk serving a nine-year state sentence. Colorado officials said it had no effect on her state conviction.³⁰ DOJ’s warrant is dated Dec 5.⁶⁰

On Jan 15, 2026 Trump pardoned former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez and banker Julio Herrera Velutini. Herrera Velutini’s daughter had given $3.5 million to MAGA Inc., Trump’s super PAC.³¹ DOJ lists 12 pardons and 8 commutations that day. Among them were former FBI agent Mark Rossini and Adriana Camberos (conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, about $48.8 million in restitution). Former Trump White House ethics lawyer Stefan Passantino lobbied for Camberos.⁶¹ On Jan 20 DOJ posted amended warrants for the Vázquez, Herrera Velutini and Rossini pardons. The new versions cover “contribution by a foreign national,” the misdemeanor counts, or lesser crimes, to which they had pleaded guilty.¹⁰⁷ On Jun 4 he pardoned former Rep. Steve Buyer. Buyer was convicted in 2023 of insider trading, meaning trading stock on secret information, on the T-Mobile/Sprint merger and Navigant.³²,⁶⁴ Proclamation 11033, which the White House released late on Jun 5, names members of Congress who backed the pardon, including Sens. Wicker and Graham. On May 31 Trump had posted letters saying Buyer was “targeted by the deep state.” One letter was signed by more than 40 former Republican members of Congress.⁶⁴

Business, crypto and Clean Air Act cases

On Jan 21, 2025 Trump pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who had been serving a life sentence. At the 2024 Libertarian National Convention Trump had promised to commute his sentence.¹⁴ In March 2025 he pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton and the BitMEX co-founders. He also pardoned the BitMEX company itself, HDR Global Trading. The Intercept reported that a pardon of a corporation “may have been a first.” The pardon reportedly came hours before the company’s $100 million fine was due.¹⁶,¹⁷ On Oct 23 he pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who had served four months for money-laundering violations.²⁴ DOJ’s clemency list dates the warrant Oct 21.⁵⁴ Binance had a business deal with the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial.²⁴ Trump said on 60 Minutes that he did not know who Zhao was. He later said, “I have no idea who he is.”²⁴ An Apr 27, 2026 Public Citizen report, citing Fortune and the Wall Street Journal, reported two things. By Apr 21, 2026 Binance held about $3.56 billion of the $4.25 billion of the Trump family’s USD1 stablecoin in circulation (about 84%). A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency tied to the dollar. Also, DOJ had opened an investigation into Iran’s use of Binance to get around sanctions, which are penalties that bar dealings with a country. No result of that investigation has been reported.⁷⁴ On Jan 16, 2026 Trump pardoned Terren Peizer, former CEO of Ontrak, before Peizer reported to prison. Peizer had been sentenced to 42 months and a $5.25 million fine. DOJ’s release on his sentence called the case the “First Insider Trading Prosecution Based Exclusively on Use of Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plans.” Those plans let company insiders set up stock trades in advance.⁶²

The Nov 7, 2025 batch (see Officials above) included Troy Lake. He was convicted of conspiracy under the Clean Air Act, the federal law that limits air pollution and bars tampering with vehicle pollution controls.⁷⁰ His was the first of a series of diesel “defeat-device” pardons. A defeat device switches off a vehicle’s pollution controls.⁵⁵ On Feb 12, 2026 DOJ listed seven pardons, five of them for former NFL players. It also listed a corporate pardon for Elite Diesel Service, Inc. In December 2024 that company had been sentenced to five years’ probation and a $50,000 fine for conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act. It was the first corporate pardon in the diesel-tampering series.⁶³ The Jul 3 batch was made up mostly of people convicted of tampering with emissions controls under the Clean Air Act.⁵ The Sept 3 batch had 23 pardons and 6 commutations, which Johnson announced a few at a time. It included about a dozen more emissions-tampering defendants, mostly truck shops that strip out emissions controls. It also included several National Firearms Act cases involving machine guns, silencers or destructive devices. And it included a commutation for John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty, the former Philadelphia electricians’ union leader. He had been convicted of embezzlement, or stealing money he managed, and of honest-services fraud, or cheating the people he served out of his honest work.³³ DOJ’s list adds a Sept 8 pardon of Emory Clash Jones (cocaine conspiracy). It also adds Oct 13 pardons of two more Alaska Clean Air Act defendants, Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming. The Hill reported that Trump signed them on stage at a campaign event in Alaska. This record does not confirm that account.³³

Foreign leaders

In October and November 2025 Trump publicly asked Israel’s President Herzog to pardon Prime Minister Netanyahu. In a letter he called Netanyahu’s corruption case a “political, unjustified prosecution.”²⁶,²⁷ On Nov 30, 2025 Netanyahu submitted a formal pardon request to Herzog.⁸¹ On Feb 12, 2026 Trump called Herzog “disgraceful” for not granting the pardon. Herzog’s office replied that “Israel is a sovereign state governed by the rule of law.”²⁷,⁸² On Apr 26, 2026 Herzog put off a decision on the request. He pushed instead for plea-deal talks between Netanyahu’s lawyer and Israel’s attorney general. A plea deal is an agreement in which the accused admits to some charges in return for a lighter outcome. No pardon decision was found through Nov 8, 2026.¹⁰⁹ On Nov 28 Trump announced a pardon for former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving 45 years for cocaine trafficking.²⁸ The announcement came two days before Honduras’s Nov 30 presidential election. At the time Trump was endorsing Nasry Asfura of Hernández’s National Party. Roger Stone, who lobbied for Hernández’s release, said he gave Trump a letter from Hernández.²⁸

Donors, lobbyists and payments for access

In April 2025 Trump pardoned Paul Walczak (DOJ’s warrant is dated Apr 23). According to House Judiciary Democrats, Walczak’s mother had attended a $1 million-per-plate fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago.¹⁹,⁶ On May 7, 2025 Bloomberg reported that lawyers were quoting fees “well north of $1 million” to get cases in front of the White House.²³ (For Zuberi and Herrera Velutini, see Officials above.) On Nov 14 nursing-home owner Joseph Schwartz was pardoned. He had paid $960,000 to JM Burkman & Associates to lobby for a pardon.²⁵ The pardon erased $5 million in restitution.²⁵

On Aug 3, 2026 Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced the No Payoffs for Pardons Act (S.5212). Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Catherine Cortez Masto, Mazie Hirono and Adam Schiff joined him. The bill was sent to the Judiciary Committee, and no further action was found.⁷⁶ The bill would add a new section to federal criminal law, 18 U.S.C. § 227A. It would require a person who receives clemency to report certain payments to the Attorney General. A report would be due for any “covered benefit” of $10,000 or more in a 12-month period. That covers benefits given to the President or his immediate family. It also covers benefits to groups they control or that advance their interests, including a presidential library, inaugural committee or super PAC. And it covers payments to anyone paid to seek clemency for the person. Reports would be due within 90 days of the grant and every year for four years. They would cover a period that starts one year before the granting President first took office. DOJ would publish them. Payments only for courtroom legal work would not count. Knowing violations would carry civil fines of up to $50,000, and willful violations could bring up to five years in prison.⁷⁶ The bill would also change the federal bribery law, 18 U.S.C. § 201, which makes it a crime for a public official to seek or accept anything of value in return for an official act. The bill would name the President and Vice President as public officials. It would treat clemency as both an “official act” and a “thing of value,” and it would cover candidates. It would also give prosecutors 10 years to bring charges for clemency-related bribery.⁷⁶ The bill’s findings are the sponsors’ own descriptions. They call Trump’s use of clemency “a currency for insiders.” They cite nearly $2 billion in erased repayments to victims and erased recoveries for taxpayers.⁷⁶

On Aug 21, 2026 House Judiciary Democrats released a minority-staff report, “Pardons, Inc.,” which estimated that clemency had wiped out nearly $1.7 billion in restitution, fines and forfeitures. Forfeitures are property the government takes. In June 2025, the committee’s Democrats had put the figure at $1.3 billion. The report said nearly 14,000 applications were waiting at DOJ. Its case studies include Milton, Walczak, Zhao, Hernández, Gentile, BitMEX and Watson. Ranking Member Jamie Raskin said clemency is “one of the most solemn constitutional powers of the presidency.” He said Trump “turned it into a bustling marketplace for insider political influence and unjust personal enrichment.” The figures and descriptions are the committee Democrats’.⁶,⁷⁵ On Sept 13, 2026 60 Minutes aired hidden-camera footage of lobbyists Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl, whom CBS described as Trump allies. In the footage they quoted a test client $300,000 for a pardon “as early as October.”⁷ A CBS analysis of DOJ data found that about 70% of second-term clemency actions did not go through the Justice Department. The share was about 92% when January 6 cases are counted.⁷ White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said people paying pardon lobbyists are “foolishly wasting their money,” and Martin denied any transactional market, meaning a market where pardons are traded for payment.⁷

Key dates

• 2025-01-20 — January 6 blanket pardons — → ledger
• 2025-02-20 — Alice Johnson named pardon czar — → ledger
• 2025-03-07 — Liz Oyer fired over Mel Gibson — → ledger
• 2025-03-16 to 17 — Biden pardons declared “VOID” via autopen — → ledger
• 2025-03-27 — BitMEX founders and company pardoned — → ledger
• 2025-05-16 — Comer announces House Oversight autopen investigation — → ledger
• 2025-06-04 — Memorandum orders review of autopen-signed Biden documents — → ledger
• 2025-10-23 — Changpeng Zhao pardon — → ledger
• 2025-10-28 — House Oversight majority report “The Biden Autopen Presidency” — → ledger
• 2025-11-07 — Alternate-elector Proclamation 10989 — → ledger
• 2025-11-28 — Juan Orlando Hernández pardon — → ledger
• 2025-12-02 — Trump declares autopen-signed Biden pardons “null, void” — → ledger
• 2026-03-04 — NBC: DOJ shelves autopen probe — → ledger
• 2026-06-04 — Steve Buyer pardon (Proclamation 11033) — → ledger
• 2026-06-11 — Reuters review: 96% of grants outside DOJ guidelines — → ledger
• 2026-08-21 — “Pardons, Inc.” staff report: nearly $1.7B erased — → ledger
• 2026-09-13 — 60 Minutes pardon-broker investigation — → ledger
• 2026-11-02 — Trump says he would preemptively pardon Musk — → ledger
• 2026-11-08 — Trump says he intends “tremendous numbers of pardons” and calls a self-pardon “not unreasonable” — → ledger

Why it matters

Pardon Clause reach (Art. II, § 2, cl. 1). The clause sets no steps a President must follow. DOJ’s clemency rules (28 C.F.R. Part 1) are advisory. So review by the Pardon Attorney is not legally required before a grant.¹¹ The limit to federal crimes has been applied twice. On Apr 2, 2026 the Colorado Court of Appeals held that the Peters pardon “has no impact on Peters’s state law offenses.”⁷³ Earlier, on Dec 8, 2025, a federal magistrate judge had dismissed her habeas petition, a request for a court to order her release. And Arkansas ordered Schwartz to serve his separate state sentence.¹⁰,⁴³

Revocation, preemptive and corporate pardons (Art. II, § 2, cl. 1). No court in the record has decided three questions. (1) Can a president revoke a pardon that his predecessor already granted? Trump’s stated reason for “voiding” Biden’s pardons was that they “were done by Autopen.”¹⁵ The Pardon Clause does not say how a grant must be signed.⁶⁶ A 2005 opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel, the Justice Department office that gives the executive branch legal opinions, looked at signatures. It concluded that a president “need not personally” sign a bill he has approved. He may direct that his signature be added, for example by autopen.¹⁰⁶ The House Oversight majority report takes the position that autopen actions are void if they lack written approval traceable to the president’s own consent. PolitiFact, quoting Gerhardt, reported that once a pardon is granted no president, Congress or court can undo it.¹⁰²,¹⁰⁴ (2) How far do preemptive pardons reach, for federal conduct that was never charged? Biden used them for Milley, Fauci, Cheney and the January 6 committee. Trump used them in Proclamation 10989. On Nov 2, 2026 Trump said he would grant such pardons to Musk and aides.¹⁵,³,⁶⁵ No court has decided whether a President may pardon himself. Trump called doing so “not unreasonable” in an interview aired Nov 8, 2026.¹⁰⁸ (3) Can a president pardon a corporation? These pardons began with HDR Global Trading and reached nine corporations by July 2026.¹⁷,⁵ The record here does not include an Office of Legal Counsel opinion or court filing that sets out the administration’s legal basis for any of the three.

Bribery (18 U.S.C. § 201) and payments for access. The federal bribery law, 18 U.S.C. § 201, bars a public official from seeking or accepting anything of value in return for an official act. The record has no charge or finding under it involving a clemency grant.⁶⁸ The No Payoffs for Pardons Act (S.5212, before the Senate Judiciary Committee) does not limit the grants themselves. That is because Congress cannot limit the pardon power by passing a law. Instead the bill regulates the people who receive clemency and those who act for them. It would require them to disclose payments. And it would change § 201 to name the President as a public official.⁷⁶ Whether § 201 already covers a President is disputed after the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in Trump v. United States.⁷⁷ That case held that a former President has absolute immunity, or full protection, from prosecution for conduct within his exclusive constitutional powers. He has at least presumptive immunity, a protection prosecutors must overcome, for his other official acts. The bill’s findings say that immunity “does not extend to private individuals who corruptly offer things of value.”⁷⁶ Two legal actions are recorded so far. One is the March 2026 charge against lobbyist Josh Nass for extorting Schwartz.²⁵ The other is the “pay-to-play” inquiry that House and Senate Democrats opened on May 7, 2026 into the Zhao, Schwartz and Milton grants. That day Sen. Peter Welch and Rep. Dave Min sent letters to 17 people who received clemency. The letters asked whether they had hired lobbyists, contacted the administration or donated to Trump’s campaign or related groups.⁸,⁸³ The administration’s position, stated by Martin and Bis (above), is that there is no transactional market. They say pardon lobbyists’ clients are wasting their money.⁷ In some cases the White House and Trump described the original prosecutions as political. The White House called Gentile’s case “weaponization of justice,” and Trump said the “Biden DOJ” had “dragged” Jenkins “through HELL.”⁴¹,²⁰

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (15 U.S.C. § 78dd-1) and related enforcement. Other changes came in the same period. DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, which handles corruption cases against officials, lost the power to bring new cases on its own. It was cut to two attorneys. Executive Order 14209 (Feb 10, 2025), a written order from the President to federal agencies, paused new enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.⁶⁹ That law bars bribing foreign officials to win business. The pause lasted until DOJ issued narrower guidelines on June 9, 2025. And Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Apr 7, 2025 memo broke up DOJ’s National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team.³⁷,³⁸,³⁹ See Justice Department and FBI Personnel Changes and Crypto and World Liberty Financial.

Fines, restitution and victims (Art. II, § 2, cl. 1). The commutations of George Santos and David Gentile ended their fines and restitution. Gentile’s $1.6 billion fraud involved about 17,000 investors.⁴⁰,⁴¹ HDR Global Trading’s $100 million fine would have gone to the Crime Victims Fund.¹⁷ Related: The 2026 Midterms and Federal Actions on Election Administration (Proclamation 10989); Caribbean Boat Strikes and Gulf States, Israel and Gaza (Hernández, Netanyahu); The Epstein Files (Maxwell).

Outcome

Where things stand

As of Nov 8, 2026 the federal pardons, commutations and corporate pardons remain in effect. There is no way to reverse them. State sentences stand for Peters and Schwartz.¹⁰,⁴³ The Pardon Attorney office has about 16,000 clemency cases waiting (the Aug 21 Democratic report put the figure at nearly 14,000).⁷⁵ Maxwell remains at the federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas.⁴⁷ The pay-to-play inquiry is run by minority-party staff. It cannot issue subpoenas until Democrats take control on Jan 3, 2027.⁶,⁴⁸ The No Payoffs for Pardons Act would require people who get clemency to disclose payments to the President’s circle. No action on it has been recorded since it was sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Aug 3, 2026.⁷⁶ In an interview aired Nov 8, 2026, Trump said he intends to issue “tremendous numbers of pardons,” but he named no one.¹⁰⁸

Gaps: the pay-to-play inquiry has made no formal findings or referrals yet.

Status

Who is affected

The grants reach more than 1,700 people given clemency, about 1,600 of them January 6 defendants. They also reach nine corporations.¹,²,⁵ They affect crime victims and the government where restitution, fines and forfeitures were erased. They also affect clemency applicants whose cases wait at the Department of Justice (DOJ), while most grants skip DOJ.⁶,⁷⁵,⁷ They do not reach state convictions. Courts in Colorado and Arkansas left those in place.¹⁰,⁴³ Clemency seekers have paid lobbyists and lawyers to press their cases. Congressional Democrats opened a “pay-to-play” inquiry. The White House and Ed Martin deny any transactional market.⁷,⁸,⁸³

• January 6 defendants (pardons and commutations of Jan 20, 2025, In force) — About 1,600 were pardoned. About 600 of them had been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers. The sentences of 14 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members were cut to time served. Enrique Tarrio, serving 22 years, was pardoned with the other convicted defendants.²
• New arrests among pardoned defendants (January 6 pardons, In force) — A Lawfare review cited by PBS counted 97 Capitol-riot defendants with new arrests, charges or convictions by June 2026. Christopher Moynihan was arrested Oct 18, 2025 on a charge of threatening Hakeem Jeffries. Cleveland Meredith Jr. was charged Nov 2–4, 2026 with threatening to execute judges who handled Capitol riot cases.³⁴,⁸⁹,³⁶
• Victims and the government (commutations and pardons, In force) — On Aug 21, 2026 House Judiciary Democratic staff estimated that clemency had wiped out nearly $1.7 billion in restitution, fines and forfeitures. That was up from their $1.3 billion estimate of June 2025. Joseph Schwartz’s Nov 14, 2025 pardon erased $5 million in restitution. David Gentile’s commutation ended restitution in a $1.6 billion fraud involving about 17,000 investors.⁶,⁷⁵,²⁵,⁴⁰,⁴¹
• Crime Victims Fund (HDR Global Trading pardon of March 2025, In force) — The company’s $100 million fine would have gone to the fund.¹⁷
• Alternate electors (Proclamation 10989 of Nov 7–9, 2025, In force) — 77 people were pardoned in advance for federal conduct. None had faced federal charges. The state cases in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin are not affected.³
• Anti-abortion activists (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act pardons of Jan 23, 2025, In force) — DOJ’s warrant list shows 24 pardons (the press counted 23). The longest sentence, Lauren Handy’s, was 57 months.⁵¹
• Convicted and charged officials (corruption pardons and commutations, In force; Cuellar pardon, Concluded) — More than 20 politicians convicted of corruption received clemency. Sheriff Scott Jenkins was pardoned on May 26, 2025, the day before he was to begin a 10-year sentence. Jeremy Hutchinson was pardoned on May 29, 2025, while he was serving an eight-year sentence. Rep. Henry Cuellar was pardoned before trial on Dec 3, 2025 and re-elected Nov 3, 2026. Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, serving 45 years for cocaine trafficking, was pardoned Nov 28, 2025.⁴,²⁰,²¹,²²,⁷⁹,²⁹,⁴⁴,²⁸
• Corporations and executives (business pardons, In force; Peizer civil suit, Pending) — Nine corporations had been pardoned by July 2026, beginning with HDR Global Trading. Terren Peizer was pardoned Jan 16, 2026 before reporting to serve 42 months, with a $5.25 million fine. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked a court on Aug 7, 2026 to dismiss its civil suit against him.⁵,¹⁷,⁶²,⁸⁶
• Clean Air Act defendants (emissions-tampering pardons, In force) — The series began on Nov 7, 2025, with Troy Lake. On Feb 12, 2026, it added Elite Diesel Service (five years’ probation and a $50,000 fine). Such defendants made up most of the Jul 3, 2026 batch. The Sept 3 batch included about a dozen more, and the Oct 13, 2026 grants included two.⁵⁵,⁶³,⁵,³³
• Clemency applicants (Pardon Attorney post vacant since Aug 21, 2026, Unresolved) — The Pardon Attorney office has about 16,000 pending cases (the Democratic report put it at nearly 14,000). A CBS analysis found about 70% of second-term clemency actions did not go through DOJ (about 92% counting January 6). A June 11, 2026 Reuters review found 96% of grants did not meet DOJ guidelines.⁷⁵,⁴⁵,⁷,¹,⁸⁵
• Gun-rights applicants (restoration program, In force) — The Pardon Attorney office has run the program since September 2026. Former Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer says the office has less than half its former staff.⁴⁶
• Clemency seekers paying intermediaries (“pay-to-play” inquiry, Pending) — Schwartz paid $960,000 to JM Burkman & Associates before his Nov 14, 2025 pardon. Bloomberg reported fees “well north of $1 million” on May 7, 2025, and 60 Minutes recorded a $300,000 quote on Sept 13, 2026. In March 2026 lobbyist Josh Nass was charged with attempted extortion of a former client. People familiar with the matter told AP the client was Schwartz. White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said people who pay are “foolishly wasting their money.”²⁵,²³,⁷
• State convictions (Peters “pardon,” Blocked; Schwartz state sentence, In force) — The pardon “has no impact on Peters’s state law offenses,” the Colorado Court of Appeals held on Apr 2, 2026. Peters was released in June 2026 after Gov. Polis commuted her state sentence. Arkansas ordered Schwartz in December 2025 to serve his state sentence.⁷³,⁴²,⁴³

Key players

• Donald Trump — President (2025 to present) — granted all of the clemency.
• Alice Marie Johnson — White House “pardon czar” (from Feb 2025) — TheWrap reports she handled Carlos Watson’s commutation, and activist Glenn E. Martin publicly thanked her for it. She backed Gentile’s commutation.⁴⁹,⁴¹
• Ed Martin — Pardon Attorney (May 2025 to Aug 2026) — announced the Proclamation 10989 pardons.¹³,⁴⁵,⁹²
• Liz Oyer — Pardon Attorney (until Mar 2025) — fired after refusing to recommend giving Gibson back his gun rights; DOJ disputes the link.¹²
• Todd Blanche — Deputy Attorney General, later acting Attorney General (2025 to 2026) — his office asked Oyer to add Gibson to the gun-rights restoration list. He later pledged not to recommend a Maxwell pardon.¹²,⁹,⁸⁴
• Changpeng Zhao — Binance founder (pardoned Oct 23, 2025) — Binance had a business deal with the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial.²⁴
• Ghislaine Maxwell — Epstein associate (federal prisoner) — seeking clemency; none granted.⁹
• Jamie Raskin — House Judiciary ranking Democrat (report released Aug 2026) — released the “Pardons, Inc.” report.⁷⁵
• Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl — lobbyists (recorded Sept 2026) — recorded by 60 Minutes quoting $300,000 for a pardon; Burkman’s firm received $960,000 from Schwartz.⁷

Chronology

• 2025-01-20 — January 6 blanket pardons — → ledger
• 2025-01-21 — Ross Ulbricht pardon — → ledger
• 2025-01-22 — D.C. officers Sutton and Zabavsky pardoned — → ledger
• 2025-01-23 — FACE Act activists pardoned — → ledger
• 2025-01 (late) to 2026-06-18 — Pardoned rioters rearrested — → ledger
• 2025-02-10 — FCPA enforcement paused — → ledger
• 2025-02-10 — Rod Blagojevich pardon — → ledger
• 2025-02-20 — Alice Johnson named pardon czar — → ledger
• 2025-03-07 — Liz Oyer fired over Mel Gibson — → ledger
• 2025-03-11 — Brian Kelsey pardon — → ledger
• 2025-03-16 to 17 — Biden pardons declared “VOID” via autopen — → ledger
• 2025-03-25 — Devon Archer pardon — → ledger
• 2025-03-27 — Trevor Milton pardon — → ledger
• 2025-03-27 — BitMEX founders and company pardoned — → ledger
• 2025-03-28 — Jason Galanis commutation — → ledger
• 2025-03-28 — Carlos Watson commutation — → ledger
• 2025-04-07 — Blanche memo disbands crypto enforcement team — → ledger
• 2025-04-23 — Paul Walczak donor pardon — → ledger
• 2025-04-23 — Michele Fiore pardon before sentencing — → ledger
• 2025-05-07 — Bloomberg: $1M pardon-lobbying fees — → ledger
• 2025-05-08 — Ed Martin moved from interim D.C. U.S. Attorney to Pardon Attorney — → ledger
• 2025-05-16 — Comer announces House Oversight autopen investigation — → ledger
• 2025-05-22 — Comer asks O’Connor, Tanden, Bernal, Tomasini and Williams to testify — → ledger
• 2025-05-26 — Sheriff Scott Jenkins pardon — → ledger
• 2025-05-28 — Clemency batch of 22 — → ledger
• 2025-05-29 — Jeremy Hutchinson pardon; Sotelo commutations — → ledger
• 2025-06-04 — Memorandum orders review of autopen-signed Biden documents — → ledger
• 2025-06-05 — Comer subpoenas Dr. Kevin O’Connor — → ledger
• 2025-06-09 — Public Integrity Section reduced — → ledger
• 2025-06-24 — Neera Tanden interview, first in autopen investigation — → ledger
• 2025-07-09 — O’Connor invokes the Fifth Amendment — → ledger
• 2025-07-11 — Ashley Williams interview — → ledger
• 2025-07-16 — Anthony Bernal invokes the Fifth Amendment — → ledger
• 2025-07-18 — Annie Tomasini invokes the Fifth Amendment — → ledger
• 2025-07-24 — Ron Klain interview — → ledger
• 2025-07-30 — Steve Ricchetti interview — → ledger
• 2025-07-31 — Mike Donilon interview — → ledger
• 2025-08-05 — Bruce Reed interview — → ledger
• 2025-08-07 — Anita Dunn interview — → ledger
• 2025-08-21 — Ian Sams interview — → ledger
• 2025-08-21 — Trump demands Tina Peters’s release — → ledger
• 2025-09-05 — Andrew Bates interview — → ledger
• 2025-09-12 — Karine Jean-Pierre interview — → ledger
• 2025-09-16 to 2026-04-21 — Binance, Iran-sanctions questions and USD1 holdings after the Zhao pardon — → ledger
• 2025-09-18 — Jeff Zients interview, last in autopen investigation — → ledger
• 2025-10-13 — Knesset appeal to pardon Netanyahu — → ledger
• 2025-10-17 — George Santos commutation — → ledger
• 2025-10-18 — Pardoned J6 defendant Moynihan arrested over threat to Jeffries — → ledger
• 2025-10-23 — Changpeng Zhao pardon — → ledger
• 2025-10-28 — House Oversight majority report “The Biden Autopen Presidency” — → ledger
• 2025-11-07 — Michael McMahon (“Operation Fox Hunt”) pardon — → ledger
• 2025-11-07 — Robert Harshbarger Jr. pardon — → ledger
• 2025-11-07 — Alternate-elector Proclamation 10989 — → ledger
• 2025-11-07 — Glen Casada, Cade Cothren and five others pardoned — → ledger
• 2025-11-09 — Ed Martin announces Proclamation 10989 on X — → ledger
• 2025-11-09 — Whistleblower documents show Maxwell commutation application — → ledger
• 2025-11-12 — Joe Lewis pardon — → ledger
• 2025-11-12 — Leavitt says Maxwell clemency not under consideration — → ledger
• 2025-11-14 — Kaye and Wilson J6-related pardons — → ledger
• 2025-11-14 — Joseph Schwartz pardon — → ledger
• 2025-11 (mid) — Letter to Herzog on Netanyahu — → ledger
• 2025-11-26 — David Gentile commutation — → ledger
• 2025-11-28 — Juan Orlando Hernández pardon — → ledger
• 2025-11-28 — Trump declares autopen-signed Biden documents “terminated” — → ledger
• 2025-11-30 — Netanyahu submits pardon request to Herzog — → ledger
• 2025-12-01 — Hernández released from USP Hazelton — → ledger
• 2025-12-02 — Trump declares autopen-signed Biden pardons “null, void” — → ledger
• 2025-12-03 — Henry Cuellar pardon — → ledger
• 2025-12-11 — Tina Peters “pardon” — → ledger
• 2026-01-15 — Vázquez and Herrera Velutini pardons — → ledger
• 2026-01-16 — Terren Peizer pardon — → ledger
• 2026-01-20 — DOJ lists amended Puerto Rico pardons — → ledger
• 2026-02-02 — Ed Martin removed as weaponization chief; later leaves DOJ — → ledger
• 2026-02-12 — NFL players and Elite Diesel corporate pardon — → ledger
• 2026-02-12 — Trump calls Herzog “disgraceful” over Netanyahu pardon — → ledger
• 2026-03-04 — NBC: DOJ shelves autopen probe — → ledger
• 2026-04-10 — WSJ: Trump promises senior aides pardons — → ledger
• 2026-04-17 — Maxwell lawyer says she will seek a pardon — → ledger
• 2026-04-26 — Herzog puts off a decision on Netanyahu’s pardon request — → ledger
• 2026-05-07 — Welch and Min letters open “pay-to-play” inquiry — → ledger
• 2026-05-19 — Blanche says he will not recommend a Maxwell pardon — → ledger
• 2026-06-04 — Steve Buyer pardon (Proclamation 11033) — → ledger
• 2026-06-11 — Reuters review: 96% of grants outside DOJ guidelines — → ledger
• 2026-07-03 — Clean Air Act batch and nine corporations — → ledger
• 2026-08-03 — No Payoffs for Pardons Act (S.5212) introduced — → ledger
• 2026-08-07 — SEC moves to dismiss Peizer civil suit — → ledger
• 2026-08-21 — Ed Martin leaves DOJ — → ledger
• 2026-08-21 — “Pardons, Inc.” staff report: nearly $1.7B erased — → ledger
• 2026-08-22 — Pardoned rioter Jake Lang arrested — → ledger
• 2026-08-25 — Hennepin County declines felony charges against Lang — → ledger
• 2026-09-03 — Diesel-delete batch; Dougherty commutation; Sept 8 and Oct 13 pardons — → ledger
• 2026-09-13 — 60 Minutes pardon-broker investigation — → ledger
• 2026-09-18 to 21 — Gun-rights restoration in Pardon Attorney office — → ledger
• 2026-11-02 — Trump says he would preemptively pardon Musk — → ledger
• 2026-11-02 to 04 — Pardoned J6 defendant charged with threatening judges — → ledger
• 2026-11-03 — Midterm House results (Cuellar holds TX-28) — → ledger
• 2026-11-08 — 60 Minutes: Trump plans “tremendous numbers of pardons” — → ledger

Sources