President Trump has previously pardoned political allies, personal friends and other aides.
Diddy asks President Trump for pardon, president speaks out
President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he has asked for a pardon for Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was convicted of federal sex crimes.
President Donald Trump’s decision to pardon Qiao Changpeng, a cryptocurrency exchange founder convicted of money laundering, is the latest in a series of controversial pardon moves.
President Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of more than 1,600 people in his second term, after pardoning an additional 237 people in his first term.
White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said President Trump “exercised his constitutional authority by pardoning Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden administration over the cryptocurrency war.”
Binance is a major backer of the Trump family’s lucrative crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, and earlier this year accepted a $2 billion investment in the Trump family’s cryptocurrency called USD1. “The Biden administration’s crypto war is over,” Levitt said.
Presidents have long used their constitutional authority to erase people’s criminal records or allow them to be released after serving part of their sentence.
While some presidents have chosen to pardon people they believe have been wronged, many have been criticized for pardoning close friends or political allies. Former President Joe Biden granted full pardons to his son Hunter Biden and his brother James Biden before leaving office.
Here are eight other times President Trump’s pardons sparked controversy.
George Santos
President Trump commuted the sentence of former New York Republican Rep. George Santos, who pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud and identity theft charges primarily related to raising money for his 2022 congressional campaign. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay $370,000 in restitution.
Santos became a celebrity after the news media scrutinized his resume after the 2022 election and uncovered a series of lies about his education, work history and fictitious career as a college volleyball star. Bowen Yang played him on “Saturday Night Live.”
In announcing Santos’ pardon, President Trump wrote on social media: “George Santos was a ‘thug’ in some ways, but there are many thugs in this country who should not be sentenced to seven years in prison.”
rod blagojevich
A former Democratic governor of Illinois was sentenced to eight years in prison for soliciting campaign contributions and other favors in exchange for former President Barack Obama’s Senate seat. When Mr. Obama resigned in 2008 to become president, it was Mr. Blagojevich’s job to appoint his successor.
Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2012. He was released in 2020 after President Trump commuted his sentence. President Trump granted him a full pardon in 2025.
Joe Arpaio
In 2017, President Trump pardoned a former Arizona sheriff who was notorious for his heavy-handed enforcement of immigration laws in the Phoenix area. A federal judge ordered Arpaio to stop racial profiling of Latinos, but another federal judge found Arpaio in contempt for failing to stop the activity. He was expected to receive up to six months in prison for criminal contempt, but was granted clemency before sentencing.
President Trump said Arpaio is 85 years old and deserves a pardon because he has rendered “commendable service to our country” for more than 50 years.
paul manafort
In December 2020, President Trump pardoned Paul Manafort, his 2016 presidential campaign chairman. Mr. Manafort was convicted in a separate trial on charges including financial fraud and tax evasion, conspiracy and witness tampering, and was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.
The charges stem from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. “This is a very sad situation,” President Trump told reporters after Manafort’s sentencing.
roger stone
President Trump pardoned his friend and political operative Roger Stone just before Stone was due to serve a 3 1/2-year federal prison sentence for lying to Congress in Mueller’s Russia investigation. Then-White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany described Stone as a “victim of the Russia hoax.”
michael flynn
President Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn has been indicted in connection with the special counsel’s Russia investigation. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his interactions with Russian diplomats. President Trump pardoned Flynn in 2020.
anti-abortion activist
On January 23, President Trump pardoned 23 people convicted of blocking people from entering reproductive health clinics. Not all were sentenced; some were given suspended sentences.
“Many of them are elderly. They should not have been prosecuted,” Trump said as he signed the documents.
January 6 Prisoner
On the day his second term began, President Trump pardoned approximately 1,600 people charged with acts during or related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that sought to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Trump called the rioters who stormed the Capitol “political prisoners” and promised to pardon them if he becomes president again during the 2024 campaign. Among those released was Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2023.
