President Donald Trump began his second term by issuing “full, complete and unconditional” pardons to nearly 1,500 people involved in the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.
He also commuted the sentences of 14 Proud Boys and members of the Oath Keepers who were charged with plotting a violent coup.
The next day, Trump announced that he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, a dark web marketplace who had been jailed for selling illegal drugs on the platform.
So how do presidents compare to the number of pardons they’ve granted? Al Jazeera looks at presidential pardons in modern history, including some of the most controversial:
What is a presidential pardon?
Article II of the U.S. Constitution gives a sitting president the power to pardon individuals for federal crimes, freeing them from further punishment or other legal consequences. However, this does not apply to impeachment.
Pardons are permanent once issued. A President cannot revoke or revoke a pardon issued by a former President.
Pardons can be issued before formal charges and after conviction. However, it cannot be applied to future crimes that one has not yet committed.
There are various acts of forgiveness, such as:
- Forgiveness – Granting complete remission of punishment
- Changes – To shorten a sentence by shortening it
- Restores. – Delay in sentencing
- Apologies – To reduce the effect of a sentence without changing its nature
- Amnesty – Granting amnesty to cover an entire group of individuals
Which president has given the most pardons?
The first presidential pardon was issued by George Washington in 1795 to the leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion, a violent tax protest.
In more recent history, the 14 US presidents since 1945 have combined to issue more than 9,000 presidential pardons and 6,500 commutations.
During that 80-year tenure, Harry Truman, who served as president from 1945 to 1953, issued the most pardons – 1,913 – followed by Trump, who has so far issued two in his two terms. Issued at least 1,644 waivers. Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961) issued the third most pardons at 1,110.
Joe Biden issued the most commutations at 4,169, followed by Barack Obama at 1,715. Other post-1945 presidents trail Obama and Biden, and Lyndon Johnson issued the third most during his 1963-69 term when he approved 226 amendments.
Trump drew comparisons to Biden.
In his four years (2021-2025), Biden granted at least 80 pardons and 4,169 commutations. In comparison, Trump granted 144 pardons and 94 commutations during his first term (2017-2021).
While Trump’s second term is only a few days old, he has already issued 1,500 pardons and more than a dozen commutations.
Trump has pardoned people with personal or political ties to him, including his supporters. In his first term, he included those involved in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, ties between Trump associates and Russian officials, and Trump and his associates. Considered possible obstruction of justice.
Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is among those convicted. Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser; Roger Stone, political consultant; and George Papadopoulos, campaign adviser.
Trump granted pardons and commutations to many of those involved. Papadopoulos was pardoned in 2018 and Flynn in November 2020. Stone’s sentence was commuted in July 2020, and he, along with Manafort, made a full pardon in December 2020.
In his final hours in office in 2021, Trump pardoned Steve Bannon, who was accused of fraud related to Trump’s fundraising campaign for the US-Mexico border wall.
Trump has also pardoned rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black. The former was found guilty of carrying a gun on his private jet in December 2019 and received a pardon. Black was sentenced to four years in prison in 2019 for making false statements about carrying a gun. His sentence was later commuted.
Many of Biden’s pardons have been for nonviolent drug offenders, including about 2,500 on Friday — the most in a single day, except for Jimmy Carter. He has also pardoned several of his family members, saying the moves were to protect them from politically motivated investigations by the Trump administration.
On his last day as president, Biden pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key figure during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been widely criticized by political opponents, including Trump, for his stance on the outbreak. Biden said Fauci’s pardon was also intended to protect him from possible prosecution under the Trump administration.
Biden also commuted the sentence of Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who has spent nearly half a century behind bars after being convicted of murdering two FBI agents in 1975.
Controversial presidential pardon.
Below are some of the most controversial pardons granted by US presidents over the past 50 years:
1974: Gerald Ford pardons Richard Nixon.
On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon for any crimes he committed during his presidency, particularly the Watergate scandal.
Ford considered it a necessary step to move the country beyond Watergate. However, the impunity has been cited as a major reason for Ford’s loss in the 1976 election. Many felt that the pardon continued the Watergate cover-up by preventing the possible indictment of the former president, who had resigned before being impeached.
1977: Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam War draft dodgers.
When Jimmy Carter was inaugurated in 1977, he pardoned those who had escaped the Vietnam War draft on his first day in office, less than two years after the war ended.
With public sentiment against the Vietnam War, many young men sought to avoid the draft. The amnesty drew criticism from veterans and conservative politicians who served in Vietnam, while others, such as the American Veterans Committee, praised the order but said it should have included deserters.
2017: Barack Obama commutes Chelsea Manning’s sentence.
Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was convicted in 2010 of leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks, which revealed US military and diplomatic activities around the world. Manning was serving a 35-year sentence, but Obama commuted it after seven years.
Pardoning family members – Clinton, Trump and Biden
On his last day in office in 2001, Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger Clinton Jr., for conspiring to distribute cocaine in the 1980s after he was caught trying to sell it to an undercover police officer. What was admitted? Clinton’s pardon cleared Roger of his criminal record.
In 2020, Trump pardoned his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner, who was serving two terms in prison for tax evasion.
In 2024, Biden pardoned his son Hunter, despite the fact that he would not. Hunter was facing convictions in two criminal cases. In September, he pleaded guilty to tax evasion and in June was found guilty of illegal drug use and gun possession. He became the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of a crime.
