How Trump is using his ‘king-like’ power of clemency a 2nd time around

President Donald Trump’s radical overhaul of the federal government has sparked nationwide “against the kings” protests. But in at least one area, the American Constitution gives him almost unlimited power, like that of a king: clemency.

Not long ago, some presidents were slow to grant clemency for crimes by commuting a sentence or granting a pardon. Even Trump has only granted pardon once in 2017.

But in the first year of his second term, Trump hasn’t been shy about using it. Fulfilling a campaign promise, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people for crimes related to the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol on the day he was sworn in. He granted pardons to high-profile defendants like former U.S. Rep. George Santos, former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley. When asked, he openly reflected on pardoning Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, although neither received clemency.

More: Trump breaks with NRA by slamming Alex Pretti for carrying a gun

Pardon advocate Ed Martin said in a Jan. 16 X article that he was “proud to help President Trump provide mercy and freedom to so many through the power of pardon.” But only Trump can decide who to grant mercy to. Just as in his first term, his pardon power this year has been a reflection of his policies, but has reached new heights.

Here’s what you need to know about who was pardoned in Trump’s first year in office and what it all means:

More: Will Trump next pardon this “great group of Americans”?

Pardons are part of a “royal-like” constitutional power for presidents

The U.S. Constitution gives the president “the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.” The origin of clemency is understood in the Federalist Papers as a need for mercy in cases where the criminal justice system was too harsh. Douglas Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University who has testified before Congress as an expert on clemency, said the president’s power to grant clemency is “very much a king-like power.”

“The decision to give it to the president is a decision that allows this to be very politicized,” he said. “Certainly, the president’s conceptual definition of when the system is cruel is definitely shaped by politics in various ways.”

Despite this, most modern presidents have not used the pardon power in the same way that Trump has. Former President Bill Clinton issued no clemency measures in three of the four years of his first term. Former President George W. Bush also did not issue pardons for the first two years. At the end of their presidency, they granted 6% and 2% of the requests submitted, respectively, according to Pew Research. Granting clemency carries political risk, and several former pardon attorneys have said the Justice Department’s process for reviewing and recommending cases is dysfunctional.

Although the president has no limits on who he can pardon for federal crimes, the DOJ has guidelines on which cases it reviews to recommend to the president. To obtain a pardon, applicants are supposed to wait five years after serving their sentence to apply for pardon, after which their good behavior will be assessed. The DOJ characterizes a commutation, or reduction of sentence, as an “extraordinary remedy,” traditionally considered to be based on “disparity or excessive severity of sentence, serious illness or old age, and meritorious service to the government.”

In the first year of his second term, Trump granted pardons to more than 1,500 people charged in the four years following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots, 77 people who faced charges and investigations for alleged interference in the 2020 election, more than 100 people, and HDR Global Trading Limited, a cryptocurrency company.

Of the 90 individual cases pardoned as of January 20, 2026, only 12 were five years or more beyond the end of their detention or probation sentence.

Who did Trump pardon? Many white-collar criminals

The majority of those pardoned appear to have made no request, as they do not appear in the petition database published by the DOJ. A spokesperson said there had been no deviations from the long-standing process and that recommendations made to the president were “consistent, impartial and respected the rule of law.”

In some cases, his graces send a message. For example, he quickly pardoned 19 people accused of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, a 1994 law that prohibits physical interference with a person having an abortion or intentionally damaging a reproductive health care facility.

“It’s a way for him to send political messages where he doesn’t need to appropriate money. He doesn’t need Congressional intervention. He doesn’t run the risk of being prosecuted,” said former federal prosecutor now law professor Mark Osler in an interview with USA TODAY. “It’s no surprise he took it that way.”

In a review of other individual cases for which Trump has granted pardons this year, about half of them involve white-collar crimes, including fraud, bribery and tax evasion. Some people have reported personal or financial ties to Trump, such as Paul Walczak convicted of tax evasion, whose mother is a longtime Republican donor, and Julio Herrera Velutini, whose daughter donated millions to a MAGA PAC, CBS News first reported.

This is consistent with Osler’s review of Trump’s first clemency warrant published in the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, “The Trump Clemencies: Celebrities, Chaos, and Lost Opportunity.” If Trump’s pardons during his first term were any indication of his values, they demonstrated favor toward “tough” people, celebrities, and provocateurs. His pardons also disproportionately favored crimes involving dishonesty, Osler wrote.

Personal favoritism in pardons is not new, said Rachel Barkow, a law professor at New York University, the “sweep” of what we see in Trump’s decisions is different. Another key difference, she said, is the new position of Ed Martin, whose nomination to be U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., was withdrawn as he faced backlash for his support of the Jan. 6 rioters. He was later named director of the federal government’s weapons task force to investigate lawsuits that the Trump administration considers too politicized.

“It’s the carrot and the stick of trying to demand loyalty and punish dissent,” Barkow said. “And it uses the power of grace as one of the mechanisms to say I support you if you are loyal.”

NBA Youngboy, the President of Honduras and the pardons of Larry Hoover raise eyebrows

Several high-profile cases have benefited from Trump’s pardon, some causing shock. Here are some of the most notable pardon cases from Trump’s first year back in office:

• NBA rapper YoungBoy (Legal name: Kentrell Gaulden) – He was convicted on federal gun-related charges, pardoned in May 2025. The lyrics of one of his 2017 songs say “(expletive) Donald Trump (expletive).”

• Larry Hoover, Chicago gang leader – Serving multiple life sentences for charges including murder, extortion and money laundering, his federal sentence was commuted to May 2025. But Hoover remains in custody on state charges, for which presidential pardons do not apply.

• Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance – He was pardoned in October after pleading guilty to financial crimes related to his cryptocurrency exchange.

• Henry Cuellar, Democratic Congressman – He was indicted in 2024 on charges of bribery, conspiracy and money laundering and was pardoned in December 2025. Some thought the conservative Democrat would change parties after the pardon, but he did not. Trump called this a “lack of LOYALTY.”

• Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández – He was sentenced to 45 years in prison “for cocaine importation and weapons offenses,” according to the Justice Department. Trump said he was pardoned because “people I respect greatly” told him that Hernandez was being “treated very harshly and unfairly.”

“False hopes”: requests for pardon multiply

Osler and Barkow, along with Kim Kardashian, visited the White House during Trump’s first term, a rare opportunity to discuss reforming the clemency review process. Trump began his first term with more than 11,000 pending petitions, a record for modern presidencies, according to Osler.

This reform did not take place and the delay continued.

According to data released on January 6, more than 19,600 applications were pending. Nearly 16,000 applications were submitted in 2025 and 2026. During former President Joe Biden’s entire term, he received fewer than 15,000.

It may be hope that is driving these requests in a year where Trump pardons have regularly made headlines and applied to people who may not have been pardoned in the past. Osler called this “false hope.”

“There are thousands and thousands of petitions from people who are not famous, not rich, not connected, who are languishing, whose stories are remarkable stories of people who are radically changing, who are abandoning old habits and reforming themselves,” said Osler, who runs a legal clinic preparing petitions pro bono. “And they are completely ignored.”

Contributors: Aysha Bagchi, Hannah Phillips, Kathryn Palmer, Rebecca Morin, USA TODAY Network

Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Contact her at KCrowley@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X (Twitter), Blue sky And TikTok.

This article was originally published on the Palm Beach Post: Trump pardons white-collar criminals, January 6. Who could be next