Pardons and Clemency
Dec. 8 - A Washington Post analysis found that President Trump “has pardoned or granted clemency to at least 10 people from drug-related crimes since the beginning of his second term.” (WaPo.)
Dec. 8 - President Trump criticized Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, whom he pardoned last week, for “a lack of LOYALTY” after the lawmaker announced that he would be running for Congress again as a Democrat. (Truth Social.) (WaPo.)
Dec. 5 - The Justice Department asserted in a recent court filing that Attorney General Pam Bondi and Pardon Attorney Ed Martin are empowered to determine who falls within President Trump’s Nov. 7 blanket pardon for “certain offenses related to the 2020 presidential election,” with Martin concluding that the proclamation does not apply to at least one defendant charged with double-voting. Politico reports that this delegation of presidential power would give Trump’s subordinates considerable discretion, as the “pardon’s language is so vague and limitless that it could apply to thousands of people.” (Politico.)
Dec. 4 - President Trump on Wednesday pardoned Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, who was awaiting trial on charges of bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy in connection with an alleged corruption scheme involving the Azerbaijan government and a Mexico-based bank. (WaPo.) On Tuesday, the president pardoned Timothy J. Leiweke, a real estate developer charged earlier this year by Trump’s administration with orchestrating a conspiracy to rig the bidding process for a sports arena in Texas. (NYT.)
Dec. 3 - President Trump claimed on Truth Social that all pardons, commutations, “or any other Legal Document so signed” by autopen within the Biden administration have been “fully and completely terminated.” (Truth Social.) Ed Whelan wrote that the president’s statement “will never have any actual legal effect on Biden pardons.” (X.)
Dec. 2 - Axios published a letter that Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández sent to President Trump a month before Trump promised to pardon him from a 45-year prison sentence for drug trafficking and firearms charges. (Letter.) (Axios.) Hernández was released from prison on Monday. (Reuters.)
Dec. 1 - President Trump commuted the seven-year sentence of private-equity executive David Gentile 12 days after he began serving time for his role in what prosecutors called a $1.6 billion fraud scheme. (NYT.)
Nov. 24 - Nursing home magnate Joseph Schwartz paid nearly $1 million to lobbyists who reported they were “seeking a federal pardon” shortly after he was sentenced for a $38 million tax fraud scheme. Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon on Nov. 14 despite the recommendation by Trump’s Justice Department for a prison term in March. (Lobbying report.) (WaPo.)
Nov. 10 - U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin announced on Sunday that President Trump has “pardoned the 2020 Alternative Electors,” as well as others involved in efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election. (Politico.) (X.)
Nov. 4 - When asked about his decision to pardon cryptocurrency billionaire Changpeng Zhao during an interview on “60 Minutes” on Sunday, President Trump said, “I don’t know who he is.” (NYT.)
Oct. 29 - Attorney General Pam Bondi stated that her office has “initiated a review of the Biden administration’s reported use of autopen for pardons” after a report published on Tuesday by the House Oversight Committee questioned the pardons’ validity. (X.) (Axios.)
Oct. 20 - President Trump on Friday commuted former U.S. Representative George Santos’s prison sentence. (WSJ.)