Trump Pardons: January 6, Donors, and Costs to Victims

In his second term, President Donald Trump has issued roughly 1,600 acts of clemency, and the Trump pardons stand out less for their volume than for who has received them: about 1,500 people convicted or charged in the January 6 Capitol attack, dozens of Republicans tied to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and a growing roster of donors, political allies, and white-collar defendants whose forgiven restitution runs into the billions of dollars.

The January 6 Mass Clemency

Hours after taking the oath on January 20, 2025, Trump signed a proclamation granting a “full, complete and unconditional pardon” to individuals convicted of offenses tied to the events at or near the Capitol on January 6, 2021.¹ Trump estimated the action covered about 1,500 people, and the proclamation directed the Attorney General to dismiss all pending January 6 indictments and to release anyone still in custody.²

Fourteen people convicted of the most serious charges, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and Proud Boys defendants Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, and Zachary Rehl, received commutations to time served rather than outright pardons. Trump said reviewing about 1,500 cases individually would be too “cumbersome” and called the sentences “excessive.”²

The clemency reached the full range of January 6 offenses, including violent assaults on police officers, civil disorder, and obstruction. It did not erase prior criminal records, and defendants facing separate, unrelated charges remained subject to those prosecutions.²

Polling before the action showed broad opposition. A December 2024 YouGov survey found that about two-thirds of Americans, including majorities of Republicans, opposed pardoning people who committed violent acts during the attack.³ About 75 percent opposed pardons for those who used deadly weapons, and 73 percent opposed pardons for those who assaulted Capitol Police officers.⁴

The 2020 Election Pardons

On November 7, 2025, Trump issued a second broad proclamation, granting “full, complete and unconditional” pardons for offenses related to the 2020 presidential election. The directive covered Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorneys Sidney Powell, John Eastman, and Kenneth Chesebro, former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, and dozens of Republicans who acted as so-called “fake electors” in multiple states.⁵ The proclamation described the prosecutions as “a grave national injustice” and cited “national reconciliation.”⁶

The practical effect was limited. None of the named recipients faced federal charges at the time, and the pardons offer no protection against ongoing state prosecutions in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin.⁷ The proclamation explicitly excluded Trump himself.

Donors, Allies, and Fraud Convictions

Beyond the two proclamations, the individual pardons and commutations have overwhelmingly favored people convicted of financial crimes, corruption, and fraud, and several recipients had close political or financial ties to the president.

Trevor Milton, former CEO of electric-truck company Nikola, received a full pardon in March 2025 after being convicted of securities and wire fraud. Federal prosecutors had been seeking about $680 million in restitution to defrauded shareholders when the pardon was issued. Milton had donated $920,000 to the Trump 47 Committee in October 2024, the first year he had ever made six-figure political contributions.⁸

Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of Binance, was pardoned in October 2025 after pleading guilty to failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and serving four months in prison.⁹ Binance had paid $450,000 to a Trump-connected lobbying firm, Checkmate Government Relations, to lobby the White House and Treasury on “executive relief.”¹⁰ Binance also facilitated a $2 billion investment in World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture connected to the Trump family, which helped boost the project’s stablecoin market capitalization from $127 million to more than $2.1 billion.¹¹ In a 60 Minutes interview, Trump said he did not know who Zhao was and called the prosecution “a Biden witch hunt.”¹²

Reality TV figures Todd and Julie Chrisley received full pardons in May 2025 after being convicted of bank fraud, conspiracy, tax evasion, and wire fraud. Their combined restitution obligations exceeded $22 million. Other recipients include Devon Archer, convicted in a $60 million bond scheme that defrauded the Oglala Sioux Nation ($43.4 million in restitution forgiven); former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and aide Cade Cothren, convicted of public corruption; former New York congressman Michael Grimm, convicted of tax fraud; and former Connecticut governor John Rowland, convicted of corruption.⁹

Commutations followed a similar pattern. Jason Galanis, convicted of defrauding the Oglala Sioux Nation and union workers of $84 million, had his sentence commuted in March 2025.¹³ Former congressman George Santos received a commutation in October 2025 after serving less than three months of a seven-year sentence for wire fraud and identity theft.⁹

On December 1, 2025, Trump pardoned former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving a 45-year sentence after a 2024 New York conviction for conspiring to import roughly 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.¹⁴ Trump called the case a “Biden setup.”¹⁵ Republican Senator Bill Cassidy questioned pardoning a convicted trafficker while the administration pursued Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on similar charges, and Republican Senator Thom Tillis called it a “horrible message.”

What the Pardons Have Cost Victims and Taxpayers

An analysis published by California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office in March 2026 estimated that Trump’s pardons and commutations across both terms have denied victims and taxpayers close to $2 billion in court-ordered restitution, forfeitures, and fines, with more than $1.3 billion of that in restitution alone.¹³ A House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff analysis released in June 2025 reached a $1.3 billion figure for the second term alone and flagged the impact on the Victims of Crime Act fund, which supports crime victims nationwide.¹⁶

How the Pardons Are Being Decided

Presidential clemency has traditionally moved through the Office of the Pardon Attorney, a Justice Department office that investigates each petition, consults the sentencing judge and the relevant U.S. attorney, and typically takes more than a year to issue a recommendation. Trump has largely sidestepped that route. A Lawfare analysis of his first term found that only 25 of 238 grants, about 11 percent, came through the Pardon Attorney.¹⁷ In the second term, a congressional analysis found that fewer than 10 of the roughly 1,600 clemency recipients had filed petitions through the office.¹⁸ A Reuters investigation reported that 96 percent of Trump’s second-term clemency grants went to people who did not meet longstanding Justice Department guidelines.¹⁹

In May 2025, Trump appointed Edward R. Martin Jr. as U.S. Pardon Attorney, the first political appointee ever to hold a job traditionally filled by a nonpolitical career official.²⁰ Martin also directs the Justice Department’s “Weaponization Working Group,” though the New York Times reported in February 2026 that senior officials had sidelined him from that role, viewing him as “ineffectual.”²¹ Martin posted “No MAGA left behind” on social media after the pardon of Virginia sheriff Scott Jenkins, who had been convicted in a bribery scheme.²²

On February 20, 2025, Trump named Alice Marie Johnson as his unofficial “pardon czar” to recommend candidates. Johnson served 20 years of a life sentence for nonviolent drug convictions before Trump commuted her sentence in 2018 and pardoned her in 2020. She said she would work alongside Pastor Paula White-Cain and Attorney General Pam Bondi to develop recommendations.²³²⁴

A lobbying market has grown around the process. CBS News reported that Mo Strategies, founded by former Trump campaign and administration officials, disclosed $500,000 in income for lobbying the White House and Justice Department on pardon matters for a Virginia immigration law firm, one of the largest pardon-related lobbying disclosures in the Senate database.²⁵ Some clemency seekers reportedly bypassed the Justice Department entirely, routing requests through the Secret Service during in-person meetings with the president.¹⁹

Pay-to-Play Investigations

A pattern links donations to clemency. Paul Walczak, convicted of misappropriating more than $10 million in payroll taxes, was pardoned after his mother attended a $1 million-per-person fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, and the pardon application highlighted the donation.²² Milton’s nearly $1 million donation to Trump’s campaign came about five months before his pardon.⁸ Binance’s lobbying spend and business deal with the Trump family crypto venture preceded Zhao’s pardon.¹⁰

In June 2026, Senator Peter Welch and Representative Dave Min opened a formal congressional inquiry, sending letters to 17 clemency recipients about how they pursued clemency, whether they hired attorneys or lobbyists, whether they or affiliated parties communicated with the administration, and whether they donated to Trump’s campaign or related organizations. Named targets include Milton, Zhao, nursing home operator Joseph Schwartz (convicted in a $38 million payroll tax fraud scheme), healthcare executive Lawrence Duran ($87 million in restitution eliminated), and David Gentile (convicted in a $1.6 billion fraud).²⁶

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn had opened an investigation into whether improper payments were made to secure Gentile’s commutation. Jailhouse communications showed Gentile discussing payments of $2.5 million or more to individuals who could help, and investigators looked at a retired Catholic priest, the Rev. Frank Mann, described as a friend of Trump, who corresponded with Gentile about lobbying the president. Trump political appointees shut down the investigation in its early stages.²⁷

The White House has denied any impropriety, calling the pardon power “absolute” and asserting that decisions involve “thorough and coordinated vetting by appropriate officials.” Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration finds it “detestable that anyone would even attempt to profit off pardons.”²⁵

Recent Grants and a Pending Request

In February 2026, Trump pardoned seven people, including former NFL players convicted of drug and financial offenses: Travis Henry, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, and Joseph Klecko.⁹ In June 2026, he pardoned former Republican congressman Stephen Buyer, who had been convicted of insider trading.²⁸

Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX founder serving 25 years for fraud and money laundering, formally applied for a pardon in 2026. His parents have reportedly engaged people connected to Trump’s inner circle, and Bankman-Fried gave a jailhouse interview to Tucker Carlson.²⁹ As of June 2026, the request is listed as “pending” by the Justice Department, though the White House has pointed to earlier remarks from Trump saying he had “no intention of pardoning” him.³⁰

What the Pardons Do Not Reach

A federal pardon covers only federal offenses. Under the Supreme Court’s dual sovereignty doctrine, affirmed in Gamble v. United States (2019), a presidential pardon does not block a state from prosecuting the same conduct under state law.³¹ That distinction is why the 2020 election pardons leave recipients exposed to ongoing state cases in Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin, and why January 6 defendants facing unrelated charges still had to answer for those.

Congress has few tools to reverse a pardon. Representative Johnny Olszewski has introduced the Pardon Integrity Act, a proposed constitutional amendment that would let 20 House members and five senators force a vote to nullify a pardon, with nullification requiring a two-thirds majority in both chambers. Republican Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska signed on as the first Republican cosponsor, saying “the pardon authority has been abused.”³² A separate joint resolution to limit the pardon power has also been introduced in the 119th Congress.³³ Any constitutional amendment would need two-thirds approval in both chambers and ratification by 38 states, a bar that has stopped every serious pardon-reform effort in modern history.

1
The White House. Granting Pardons and Commutation of Sentences for Certain Offenses Relating to the Events at or Near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021
2
U.S. Congress. House Government Operations Committee Hearing Document
3
States United Democracy Center. Jan. 6 Pardons Survey
4
Protect Democracy. New Poll: Republicans Oppose Jan. 6 Pardons
5
PBS NewsHour. Trump Pardons Rudy Giuliani and Others Who Backed Efforts to Overturn 2020 Election
6
BBC News. Trump Pardons Giuliani and Others Over 2020 Election
7
New York Times. Trump Pardons Giuliani, Eastman, and Others Over 2020 Election Efforts
8
CNBC. Trump Pardons Nikola’s Trevor Milton
9
U.S. Department of Justice. Clemency Grants by President Donald J. Trump (2025–Present)
10
CNBC. Pardon of Binance Founder CZ
11
Wall Street Journal. Binance, Trump, and CZ’s Pardon
12
New York Times. Trump 60 Minutes Interview on Binance and CZ Pardon
13
Office of the Governor of California. Trump Criminals Analysis
14
FactCheck.org. Examining Trump’s Pardon of Former Honduran President
15
PBS NewsHour. Former Honduras President Hernández Freed After Trump Pardon
16
Democrats – House Judiciary Committee. New Judiciary Democrats Analysis Reveals Trump’s Pardon Spree Cheated Crime Victims of $1.3 Billion
17
Lawfare. Trump and the Pardon Attorney
18
U.S. Congress. House Judiciary Subcommittee Hearing Document
19
Reuters. Democrats Press Trump Administration Over Pay-to-Play Pardons
20
U.S. Department of Justice. Pardon Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr.
21
New York Times. Justice Dept. Sidelines Ed Martin From Weaponization Group
22
PBS NewsHour. A Look at Trump’s Controversial Pardons for Political Allies and Loyalists
23
Prison Legal News. Former Prisoner Appointed President’s Pardon Czar
24
Houston Public Media (NPR). Who Is Alice Marie Johnson, Trump’s Newly Appointed Pardon Czar
25
CBS News. Trump-Linked Firm and Pardon Lobbying
26
CBS News. Trump Pardon Recipients Face Congressional Investigation Over Pay-to-Play
27
New York Times. Trump Fraudster, Priest, and the Brooklyn Investigation
28
New York Times. Amnesties, Commutations and Pardons
29
New York Times. Sam Bankman-Fried Pardon Application
30
CNBC. Sam Bankman-Fried Files Formal Request for Presidential Pardon
31
Brennan Center for Justice. Problematic Trump Pardons
32
Axios. Trump Pardons: Don Bacon Becomes First Republican Cosponsor
33
U.S. Congress. H.J.Res.13 – Proposing an Amendment to Limit the Pardon Power