A Democracy Drive Thread
Clemency for January 6 defendants, crypto executives, corrupt politicians, donors, and a foreign president — the lobbyists cashing in to broker it, and what some recipients did once they were free.
This thread tracks the use of the pardon and commutation power in chronological order, with sources: who received clemency, the circumstances, and the documented aftermath in cases where pardoned individuals were later arrested or charged again. Several entries also appear in other threads (the 2020-election pardons, the Maxwell matter); they are included here because they are, first, exercises of the pardon power. Entries are presented in order so the pattern is visible on its own.
December 22, 2020
On the ground
Esformes, a Miami nursing-home operator, paid bribes and kickbacks to doctors for patient referrals. His commutation was backed by former attorneys general; restitution remained.
January 19, 2021
On January 19, 2021, President Donald Trump commuted the 24-year prison sentence of Eliyahu Weinstein, a New Jersey man convicted of defrauding investors out of $230 million. Weinstein was released from prison after serving less than eight years. Following his release, Weinstein orchestrated a new multi-million dollar fraud scheme involving medical supplies and baby formula for Ukraine, resulting in a 37-year federal prison sentence on November 14, 2025.
May 15, 2023
Noelle Dunphy, a former aide to Rudy Giuliani, filed a lawsuit alleging that Giuliani offered to sell presidential pardons for $2 million each, to be split between himself and Donald Trump, while avoiding the official pardon process to evade FOIA requests. She also alleged that Giuliani detailed plans to overturn the 2020 election results by claiming voter fraud.
January 1, 2025
Donald Trump issued a broad pardon for individuals involved in the January 6 Capitol insurrection, which resulted in the release of Andrew Taake. Taake had been sentenced to six years in prison for attacking police officers with bear spray and a whip, and the time he served in federal pretrial detention for the Capitol attack was credited toward his sentence for separate child sex crimes in Texas, allowing him to avoid further prison time for those offenses.
January 20, 2025
Jared Wise, a former FBI agent who was indicted on six counts related to his actions during the January 6 Capitol attack, was hired as a senior adviser in the Department of Justice. Body camera footage from the event shows Wise urging rioters to "kill" law enforcement officers and calling them "the Gestapo." Wise was pardoned by President Trump on his inauguration day, and the DOJ moved to dismiss his criminal case on January 20, 2025.
President Donald Trump issued approximately 1,500 pardons and commuted the sentences of 14 individuals associated with the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, including those convicted of seditious conspiracy and those who had assaulted law enforcement officers.
January 23, 2025
On the ground
“They should not have been prosecuted,” Trump said as he signed the pardons on Jan. 23, 2025, the day before the March for Life. Handy had been sentenced to nearly five years for directing blockaders to chain themselves together to block the clinic’s doors; a nurse was injured. Trump pardoned her and her nine co-defendants, among others. Some of those pardoned later went on trial for a new clinic blockade.
“They should not have been prosecuted.”
January 30, 2025
On the ground
The database had listed charges and outcomes for about 1,500 Capitol riot defendants. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asked the National Archives to act.
February 11, 2025
On the ground
The portal had held tens of thousands of exhibits from riot prosecutions. The department gave no explanation. Boasberg ordered it to halt removals and identify any other missing records.
February 20, 2025
On the ground
The charges came from FBI searches during the investigation. Prosecutors decided the pardons covered them even though they were not part of the Capitol attack itself.
March 17, 2025
In his own words
Legal experts said the Constitution gives no power to revoke a predecessor’s pardons and that presidents have long used autopens.
“The ‘Pardons’ that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen.”
March 27, 2025
President Donald Trump issued a full and unconditional pardon to Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola Corporation, who had been sentenced to four years in prison for securities and wire fraud. The pardon effectively nullifies hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution owed to defrauded investors, including $680 million to Nikola shareholders and $15.2 million to Peter Hicks.
March 29, 2025
Jonathan Braun, a convicted drug smuggler and predatory lender whose sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump in 2021, was arrested on March 29, 2025, for allegedly punching a man and shoving a three-year-old child to the ground during a Sabbath dinner in Lawrence, New York. Braun has been arrested multiple times since his release, including for allegedly assaulting his wife and father-in-law, groping a nanny, and menacing health-care workers. Following these arrests, a federal judge ordered his detention on April 4, 2025, ruling that he he is a danger to the community and a flight risk.
April 7, 2025
The U.S. Justice Department directed armed U.S. Marshals to deliver a warning letter to former pardon attorney Liz Oyer, who had been fired from her career position. The letter warned Oyer against testifying before congressional Democrats regarding her termination, which she stated occurred after she refused to restore the gun rights of actor Mel Gibson, a Trump supporter. The Marshals were called off only after Oyer confirmed receipt of the letter via email.
April 8, 2025
The Department of Justice filed a court document on April 8, 2025, stating that certain pardoned January 6 Capitol rioters, including Stacy Hager, should be reimbursed for restitution payments they paid for Capitol repairs. The DOJ argued that because some convictions were vacated by appeals courts following presidential pardons, there is no longer a legal basis for the government to retain those funds.
May 19, 2025
The U.S. Senate confirmed Charles Kushner, a real estate developer and father of Jared Kushner, as the U.S. Ambassador to France and Monaco in a 51-45 vote. Kushner had previously served two years in prison for tax evasion, witness tampering, and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission, crimes for which he received a presidential pardon from Donald Trump in 2020.
May 27, 2025
President Donald Trump issued a pardon for former Virginia sheriff Scott Jenkins, who had been convicted of bribery, conspiracy, and honest services fraud in a 'cash-for-badges' scheme. Jenkins had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting $75,000 in bribes from businessmen in exchange for appointing them as auxiliary deputies. Trump described Jenkins as a victim of a 'weaponized' Justice Department, despite a jury conviction based on evidence including video of the bribes.
May 28, 2025
President Donald Trump granted full pardons to reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were serving federal prison sentences for bank fraud and tax evasion.
President Donald Trump stated on May 28, 2025, that he would consider pardoning individuals convicted in a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, describing the trial as a 'railroad job' and suggesting the defendants were simply saying 'stupid things' while drinking.
President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to former New York Republican Representative Michael Grimm, who had previously pleaded guilty to tax fraud and served eight months in prison for underreporting wages and revenue at a Manhattan restaurant.
President Trump commuted the federal prison sentence of Larry Hoover, the founder and former leader of the Gangster Disciples street gang, who had been serving six life sentences on charges including conspiracy, extortion, and drug trafficking.
President Donald Trump pardoned rapper NBA YoungBoy, also known as Kentrell Gaulden, who had been sentenced to just under two years in prison on federal gun-related charges and had pleaded guilty to his role in a prescription drug fraud ring.
President Donald Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon to former Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, who had been convicted of federal bribery and attempted extortion charges.
On the ground
Todd Chrisley was serving 12 years and Julie Chrisley seven. Their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention and campaigned for Trump; she said Trump told her by phone that “you guys don’t look like terrorists.” The White House said they had been “unfairly targeted and overly prosecuted.”
“You guys don’t look like terrorists.”
May 29, 2025
President Donald Trump issued pardons for several Republican political allies, including former U.S. Representative Michael Grimm of New York, former Connecticut Governor John Rowland, and former Arkansas state senator Jeremy Hutchinson, all of whom had been convicted of felonies such as tax fraud and public corruption.
May 31, 2025
President Trump granted clemency to Larry Hoover, leader of the Chicago-based Gangster Disciples, and at least seven other individuals convicted on federal drug charges during the early months of his second term.
June 17, 2025
A review by House Judiciary Committee Democrats found that recent presidential pardons granted by President Trump have cost crime victims and taxpayers approximately $1.3 billion in restitution and payments. The report highlights that these pardons absolved convicted criminals, including corporate fraudsters and tax evaders, from paying for damages caused by their crimes, including those associated with the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol.
July 25, 2025
President Donald Trump stated on July 25, 2025, that he is allowed to grant clemency to Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, after senior US justice department official Todd Blanche met with her in prison. This follows reports that Trump's name appears in justice department documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
August 27, 2025
On the ground
Under Secretary of the Air Force Matthew Lohmeier reversed the 2021 denial. In July the government had paid her family nearly $5 million to settle their wrongful-death suit.
October 17, 2025
President Donald Trump commuted the seven-year prison sentence of former Republican Representative George Santos, who had been serving time for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Santos had previously pleaded guilty to these crimes and was released from prison on October 17, 2025.
On the ground
In May 2024 he told a court, “President Trump’s going to be in office six months from now, so I’m not worried about it.” The Justice Department dismissed his case the day after Trump took office.
“President Trump’s going to be in office six months from now, so I’m not worried about it.”
October 19, 2025
Christopher Moynihan, a man pardoned by President Trump for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot, was arrested on a felony charge of making a terroristic threat after allegedly texting that he planned to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries before a scheduled appearance in New York City.
October 23, 2025
President Donald Trump issued a pardon for Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who had pleaded guilty to federal money laundering charges and served four months in prison. The pardon follows reports that Zhao's company and Zhao himself had supported the Trump family's cryptocurrency ventures and that Binance had hired a lobbyist with ties to Donald Trump Jr.
October 28, 2025
The GOP-led House Oversight Committee released a 93-page report and a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, asserting that former President Joe Biden's cognitive decline rendered his use of the autopen for pardons and commutations void. The committee urged the Department of Justice to review the 4,245 executive actions and consider prosecution of Biden's aides, alleging a cover-up of his mental state.
The Department of Justice deleted a sentencing memo for Taylor Taranto, a pardoned January 6 rioter who was arrested in 2023 near former President Barack Obama's home with weapons. The original memo, which detailed Taranto's history and the danger he posed, was replaced by a softened version that removed references to his January 6 involvement and Donald Trump's posting of Obama's home address. Additionally, the two prosecutors who filed the original memo, Samuel White and Carlos Valdivia, were placed on leave.
On the ground
Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White wrote the memo in the case of Taylor Taranto, a pardoned January 6 defendant later arrested with weapons near Barack Obama’s home after a bomb hoax; the pardon did not cover those later crimes. The memo was removed from the docket the next day and refiled by other prosecutors without references to January 6. Taranto was sentenced to time served; the judge praised the suspended prosecutors.
November 2, 2025
During a 60 Minutes interview, Donald Trump admitted that he did not know who Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, was when he pardoned him. Zhao had previously pleaded guilty to federal money laundering charges. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who had recently criticized President Joe Biden for allegedly not knowing who he was pardoning, declined to comment on Trump's admission, stating he did not know about the interview.
November 6, 2025
President Donald Trump granted full pardons to former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, both of whom had been convicted on federal corruption charges involving a fraudulent mailer program and the use of a fake name to funnel taxpayer money.
November 7, 2025
Alexander Smirnov, who pleaded guilty to fabricating a bribery story about Joe and Hunter Biden, was covertly released from prison after serving only a few months of a six-year sentence. Despite being listed as a prisoner at FCI Terminal Island, he was found to be missing from the facility, with prison officials later confirming he had been furloughed without a forwarding address provided.
President Donald Trump granted a pardon to Michael McMahon, a former New York police sergeant convicted of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government and interstate stalking as part of a campaign of transnational repression targeting a Chinese couple in New Jersey.
November 9, 2025
President Donald Trump issued a full and unconditional pardon for several allies, including Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, and Jeffrey Clark, as well as Republicans who acted as fake electors. The pardons apply to federal crimes, although none of the people named were charged with federal crimes related to the 2020 election.
November 10, 2025
Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted of sex trafficking, is planning to apply for a commutation of her federal prison sentence, which is set to run through 2037. Documents obtained by the House Judiciary Committee indicate that the prison warden at the Bryan federal prison camp in Texas is assisting her with the application. Additionally, House Democrats allege that Maxwell is receiving preferential treatment, including customized meals and private meeting arrangements, following a meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
November 12, 2025
US President Donald Trump sent a formal letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog requesting that he "fully pardon" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently standing trial for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
President Donald Trump has granted pardons and clemency to political allies, donors, and figures associated with the 2020 election overturn efforts, including Rudy Giuliani and George Santos, while bypassing the traditional Department of Justice review process. These actions have reportedly wiped out over $1.3 billion in restitution and fines owed to victims and the public.
November 14, 2025
On the ground
Schwartz pleaded guilty to withholding more than $38 million in employees’ payroll taxes between 2017 and 2018 and never paying it to the IRS. Lobbying disclosures show he paid more than $1 million to lobbyists to help secure the November 2025 pardon. Prosecutors said he still had $58 million in assets in others’ names. Arkansas then made him serve nine months for defrauding its Medicaid program, but one of his lobbyists also sought relief there and the parole board released him within three weeks. The White House says the president does not issue pardons at lobbyists’ request. One of his lobbyists was later indicted on extortion charges.
November 15, 2025
The Justice Department replaced online copies of pardons dated November 7, 2025, after it was discovered that several documents featured identical copies of President Donald Trump's signature, which forensic experts confirmed were duplicates. The agency attributed the error to a technical and staffing issue, while the administration maintained that the president had signed each document by hand.
The Justice Department replaced several pardon documents uploaded to its website that featured identical copies of President Donald Trump's signature, after forensic experts confirmed the signatures were identical. The administration claimed the identical signatures were the result of a 'technical error' and staffing issues, while critics and Democrats call for an investigation into whether an autopen was used.
November 25, 2025
During the annual White House turkey pardon event on November 25, 2025, President Donald Trump claimed that former President Joe Biden's turkey pardons from the previous year were 'totally invalid' due to the alleged use of an autopen. Trump stated that he was issuing a new pardon for the turkeys, Peach and Blossom, to ensure they were not processed for dinner.
November 26, 2025
President Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence of former private equity CEO David Gentile, who had been convicted of defrauding more than 10,000 investors in a scheme involving GPB Capital Holdings. Gentile had reported to prison on November 14, 2025, and was released on November 26, 2025, shortly after being sentenced to seven years in prison for wire and securities fraud.
November 30, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote a letter to Israeli President Isaac Herzog calling for a full pardon of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing the prosecution against him as a political and unjustified prosecution.
December 2, 2025
President Donald Trump issued a pardon for former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who had been convicted in a New York federal court in 2024 on charges of cocaine importation and weapons offenses, and was serving a 45-year prison sentence.
December 3, 2025
President Donald Trump formally pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been convicted in the US of drug trafficking offenses and sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. Trump described the prosecution as a 'Biden horrible witch hunt' while members of Congress from both parties criticized the move.
December 9, 2025
President Donald Trump sought to pardon Tina Peters, a former Mesa County clerk convicted of state crimes related to an election fraud scheme in Colorado. Despite Trump's efforts and pressure on the state to release her, a Colorado appeals court ruled that the presidential pardon power does not extend to state offenses, rejecting the attempt to use a federal pardon to overturn a state conviction.
December 27, 2025
By late 2025, the Wall Street Journal and others documented a “pardon-shopping industry” built around Trump's clemency power: well-connected lobbyists quoting a going rate of about $1 million to press a pardon request, plus “success fees” of $5 million or more if it landed. Lobbying-disclosure filings showed roughly $5.2 million in clemency-related lobbying revenue in 2025 — about eight times the prior year. One Trump-linked firm's first pardon client alone paid $500,000; operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman disclosed $960,000 to lobby a pardon for a nursing-home operator who had defrauded the government of $38 million.
January 23, 2026
Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who had pleaded guilty to money-laundering failures, in October 2025. Lobbying disclosures later showed Binance paid $800,000 to press for the pardon, with a “success fee” of as much as $5 million on top. Lobbyist Ches McDowell — a big-game-hunting buddy of Donald Trump Jr. — was walked into the Oval Office by Don Jr. to pitch it, McDowell's firm, Checkmate Government Relations, disclosing $450,000 for work that included seeking “executive relief.” Binance's exchange had separately boosted the Trump family's own crypto ventures.
February 11, 2026
Andrew Paul Johnson, who was pardoned by President Donald Trump for his role in the 2021 Capitol riot, was convicted in Florida of multiple charges of child molestation and lewd and lascivious exhibition. According to court documents, Johnson attempted to bribe a victim with the promise of a $10 million payout he claimed he would receive as restitution for Jan. 6 defendants.
Andrew Paul Johnson, a man pardoned by President Trump for his role in the January 6 Capitol riot, was convicted in Florida of multiple charges including molesting children under 12 and 16. According to police reports, Johnson attempted to bribe a victim with the promise of money he claimed he would receive as restitution from the Trump administration for being a January 6 defendant.
March 3, 2026
Bryan Betancur, a self-professed white supremacist and January 6 Capitol riot participant who was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2025, was arrested on March 3, 2026, for assault and battery after filming himself touching women's hair without their consent on a Metro train.
March 5, 2026
Andrew Paul Johnson, a former January 6 Capitol rioter who received a full pardon from President Donald Trump in January 2025, was sentenced to life in prison on March 5, 2026, for child molestation and related crimes in Florida.
March 28, 2026
Several individuals pardoned by President Trump for their roles in the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida, alleging that U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia used excessive force, including the use of chemical irritants and billy clubs, against them.
May 7, 2026
On May 7, 2026, Senator Peter Welch and Representatives Dave Min and Raúl Ruiz sent 17 letters to Trump pardon recipients demanding to know whether their clemency followed improper influence or a quid pro quo. Among those probed: Binance's Changpeng Zhao; nursing-home operator Joseph Schwartz; Trevor Milton; Imaad Zuberi, commuted after his firm gave $900,000 to Trump's 2017 inaugural committee; and David Gentile, whose $15.5 million in restitution vanished when Trump commuted his sentence. In the minority, the Democrats had no subpoena power — only requests.
May 15, 2026
Colorado Governor Jared Polis commuted the prison sentence of former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters, reducing her sentence from eight and a half years to approximately four and a half years. Peters had been convicted of four felonies and three misdemeanors related to a 2021 breach of voting systems in Mesa County, where she allowed unauthorized individuals to access sensitive election equipment and data.
July 13, 2026
In July 2026, rapper Boosie Badazz (Torrence Hatch) sued far-right operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman — convicted over a 2020 voter-suppression robocall scheme — alleging he paid their firm $600,000 after they pitched themselves as having Trump “on speed dial.” A typo-riddled contract signed in the fall of 2025 promised a partial refund if no pardon came; the pardon never did, and Boosie sued to recover $300,000 after they refused. The White House said the pair had no role in the pardon process and that their involvement would only hurt an applicant's chances.
October 7, 2026
On the ground
The tally covers cases Trump inherited from the Biden administration: 80 closed investigations (10 of them criminal), 67 enforcement lawsuits dismissed while agencies were actively litigating them (10 of them criminal cases), and 54 "canceled consequences", meaning penalties and settlements already secured before his second term that were then terminated or reversed, among them 14 pardons of corporations and executives and five canceled corporate leniency deals. Banks and finance benefited most (51 corporations), then tech (28) and crypto and fintech (26). Ninety of the 205 companies (44%) had ties to Trump: 53 gave to his inauguration, ballroom or other initiatives, 32 hired Trump-allied lobbyists or lawyers such as Brad Bondi (the attorney general’s brother) and Brian Ballard, and 15 had business deals with Trump. Elon Musk’s companies top the list with eight canceled actions, including an SEC settlement against X cut from $150 million to $1.5 million. Wells Fargo had five and Pfizer, Pam Bondi’s former employer, had three. The count is up from 159 actions against 166 corporations in January 2026.
“Rick Claypool, Public Citizen research director: “Trump’s retreat from law enforcement against corporate crime is a signal to Big Business that if you’re big enough, rich enough, and connected enough with Trump’s inner circle, there are no consequences for breaking the law.””