Trump wields pardons as purest form of power
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President Trump has embraced clemency as an expression of raw political power, seizing on a unique authority designed to go unchecked by Congress, the Constitution or the courts.
Why it matters: No presidential power is more absolute than the pardon. And no president has wielded it more openly as a tool of personal and ideological loyalty than Donald Trump.
Zoom in: Trump's extraordinary move to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández — convicted last year of flooding the U.S. with tons of cocaine — is among the clearest examples yet.
- Prosecutors said Hernández, who led Honduras from 2014 to 2022, conspired with cartels to pave a "cocaine superhighway" into the U.S. — posing as an anti-drug conservative while running his country like a narco state.
- In an Oct. 28 letter to Trump obtained by Axios, Hernández alleged that he was "targeted by the Biden-Harris administration not for any wrongdoing, but for political reasons."
The appeal, laced with effusive praise for Trump and claims of common persecution, appeared to work.
- Trump granted the pardon request, claiming Hernández was "treated very harshly and unfairly." White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later called it a "clear Biden over-prosecution."
- Left unmentioned: Emil Bove, a former member of Trump's legal team who's now a federal judge, was a lead prosecutor on Hernández's case while working for the Southern District of New York.
Between the lines: The Hernández pardon fits squarely within Trump's view of justice — serious criminal conduct matters far less than whether the defendant pledges loyalty, flatters the president or aligns with his ideological project.
- While the right-wing Hernández walks free from his 45-year prison sentence, left-wing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro — indicted on charges of narcoterrorism — faces the threat of a U.S. military invasion.
- "If someone sells drugs in their country, that doesn't mean you arrest the president and put him in jail for the rest of his life," Trump told reporters Sunday when pressed on why he pardoned Hernández.
Zoom out: The dynamic extends to Trump's domestic orbit, where MAGA-friendly financiers, operatives and celebrity allies have had their convictions wiped away with the stroke of Trump's pen.
- Changpeng Zhao ("CZ"): The billionaire founder of crypto giant Binance was pardoned despite pleading guilty in 2023 to money laundering violations. Trump — whose family's crypto venture has ties to Binance — later claimed he did not know CZ, saying on "60 Minutes": "I heard it was a Biden witch hunt."
- George Santos: The disgraced former GOP congressman — convicted of defrauding donors and lying to the House — had his seven-year sentence commuted by Trump after spending less than three months in prison.
- Paul Walczak: Trump pardoned the former nursing home executive, who pleaded guilty to tax crimes, less than three weeks after his mother attended a $1 million-per-person fundraising dinner at Mar-a-Lago. A White House official claimed Walczak was "targeted by the Biden administration over his family's conservative politics."
- Fake electors: Trump granted sweeping pardons to Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows and more than 70 allies tied to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, including the "alternate electors" scheme. Many never faced federal charges, raising questions about whether Trump was seeking to interfere in state prosecutions, which are not covered by pardons.
The other side: As Trump has granted pardons to dozens of white-collar criminals, he's ordered the Justice Department to investigate his political enemies for less serious allegations, such as mortgage fraud.
- Trump loyalist Ed Martin — who is leading investigations of New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) — holds the position of both U.S. pardon attorney and weaponization czar.
- "No MAGA left behind," Martin tweeted after the pardon of former Virginia sheriff Scott Jenkins, a Trump supporter convicted on bribery charges.
What they're saying: "There's a whole team of qualified lawyers who look at every single pardon request that ultimately make their way up to the president of the United States," Leavitt said last month of Trump's decision-making process on pardons.
- "The only pardons anyone should be critical of are from President Autopen," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement, referring to President Biden, who she said "pardoned and commuted sentences of violent criminals including child killers and mass murderers ... not to mention the proactive pardons he 'signed' for his family members like Hunter on his way out the door."
The bottom line: On Day One, Trump launched a radical redefinition of presidential clemency by pardoning roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants, including supporters charged with seditious conspiracy.
- It was a signal that those who act in Trump's name will be shielded — and that those who don't, won't.
