Trump's pardons cost the U.S. $1.3 billion, per House Dem report
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President Trump signs a pardon for Devon Archer, a former business associate of Hunter Biden, during a meeting with U.S. ambassadors in the White House cabinet room on March 25. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
A new report from Democratic staff on the House Judiciary Committee estimates that President Trump's pardons have cost the American public more than $1.3 billion in fines and restitution.
Why it matters: Democrats are homing in on the the nearly 1,600 pardons Trump has already doled out in just five months on the job as one of the most potent attacks on his presidency.
- The president kicked off his second term with a blanket pardon for most Jan. 6 defendants.
- He has already repeatedly made headlines for pardoning high-profile or wealthy figures who have proven themselves MAGA loyalists.
Driving the news: The largest price tag from Trump's pardons, according to the 10-page report, was nearly $680 million owed in restitution by Trevor Milton, the founder of now-bankrupt electric truck startup Nikola.
- Other major figures include $184 million in forfeiture from Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road marketplace convicted of drug trafficking, and $84 million in restitution owed by convicted fraudster Jason Galanis.
- Trump also wiped $100 million in fines owed by crypocurrency firm HDR Global Trading.
- Jan. 6 defendants collectively owed $2.6 million in restitution payments, including to law enforcement officers who were beaten during the deadly Capitol riot, according to the report.
By the numbers: The total cost of all the fines, forfeitures and restitution Trump relieved through his clemency grants comes out to $1,348,607,386, the report estimates.
- The vast majority of that, more than $1 billion, is restitution payments, with another $183 million in forfeiture and $132 million in fines.
What they're saying: "Whoever said crime doesn't pay clearly never lived under a Trump presidency," the report says, noting that Trump has floated the possibility of a compensation fund for Jan. 6 defendants.
- It also warned that, by relieving clemency recipients of financial penalties, Trump risks underfunding the Crime Victims Fund.
- "Under the first Trump Administration, deposits into the CVF dropped significantly because of his early turn away from white-collar criminal prosecutions," it says.
- "The second Trump Administration's recent actions pardoning white-collar criminals and wiping out their restitution debts are once again severely draining the coffers of this crucial channel for victims' assistance."
The other side: "The summer interns working for House Democrats must be busy writing and printing pointless letters that aren't worth the paper they're written on," said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields.
- Fields pointed to former President Biden's pardon of his son, Hunter, saying Democrats "were conveniently silent when 'Pay Your Fair Share' Biden pardoned his tax-cheating son, and they have no standing to cry foul now."
- "President Trump is righting the wrongs of political prosecutions and providing justice after careful consideration of thoroughly vetted cases presented to him."
