President Donald Trump began his second term by granting “complete, complete and unconditional” pardons to approximately 1,500 people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
He also commuted the sentences of 14 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who were convicted or charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the violence.
The next day, President Trump announced that he had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web market Silk Road, who was jailed in connection with selling illegal drugs on the platform.
So how do the number of pardons granted by presidents compare? Al Jazeera visualizes presidential pardons in modern history, including the most controversial ones.
What is a presidential pardon?
Article II of the U.S. Constitution gives a sitting president the power to pardon individuals for federal crimes and release them from further punishment or other legal consequences. However, this does not apply to impeachment.
Once issued, a pardon is permanent. A president cannot overturn or revoke a pardon issued by a previous president.
Pardons may be issued before formal indictment or after conviction. However, it cannot be applied to future crimes that have not yet been committed.
There are various acts of pardon, including:
Pardon – grant a complete pardon for a conviction Commutation – reduce a sentence Suspension – delay a sentence Remission – reduce the effects of a sentence without changing its nature Pardon – grant a pardon that covers an entire group of individuals
Which president has granted 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 movement.
In more modern history, the 14 U.S. presidents since 1945 have collectively issued more than 9,000 presidential pardons and more than 6,500 commutations.
Over the past 80 years, Harry Truman, who served as president from 1945 to 1953, has issued the most pardons, with 1,913, followed by Trump, who has issued at least 1,644 pardons in both terms. . Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961) granted the third most pardons, with 1,110.
Joe Biden issued the most commutations with 4,169, followed by Barack Obama with 1,715. Other presidents since 1945 lag far behind Obama and Biden, with Lyndon Johnson authorizing 226 cuts during his 1963-1969 term, the third-highest number of cuts issued. I did it.
Comparison of Trump and Biden
Biden has granted at least 80 pardons and 4,169 commutations during his four years in office (2021-2025). In contrast, Trump granted 144 pardons and 94 commutations during his first term (2017-2021).
Only a few days into President Trump’s second term, he has already issued 1,500 major pardons and more than a dozen commutations.
President Trump has pardoned people with whom he has personal or political ties, including supporters. In the president’s first term, this included investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, ties between Trump associates and Russian officials, and possible obstruction of justice by Trump and his associates. They included people involved in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Among those convicted was Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Michael Flynn, former National Security Adviser. Roger Stone, political advisor. George Papadopoulos, campaign staff;
President Trump granted pardons and commutations to several of those involved. Papadopoulos was pardoned in 2018 and Flynn in November 2020. Stone’s sentence was commuted in July 2020, and he and Manafort were granted a full pardon in December 2020.
In the final hours of his 2021 term, President Trump pardoned Steve Bannon, who was charged with fraud related to fundraising efforts for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
President Trump also granted clemency to rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black. The former was convicted and pardoned for carrying a gun on a private jet in December 2019. Black was sentenced to four years in prison in 2019 for making false statements about owning a gun. His sentence was later commuted.
Many of Biden’s pardons are for non-violent drug offenders, with about 2,500 pardoned on Friday, the most in a single day other than Jimmy Carter. He also pardoned several family members, saying the move was to protect them from politically motivated investigations by the Trump administration.
On his final day as president, Biden pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a prominent figure during the coronavirus pandemic. He has been widely criticized by political opponents, including Trump, over his stance on the spread of the virus. Biden said Fauci’s pardon was also intended to protect him from potential prosecution under the Trump administration.
Biden also commuted the sentence of Leonard Pelletier, an indigenous activist who has spent nearly half a century in prison since being imprisoned for the murders of two FBI agents in 1975.
controversial presidential pardon
Below are some of the most controversial pardons granted by U.S. presidents in the past 50 years.
1974: Gerald Ford pardons Richard Nixon
On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon for crimes committed while he was president, particularly those related to the Watergate scandal.
Ford saw this as a necessary step to move the country beyond Watergate. However, this pardon has been cited as the main reason Ford lost the 1976 election. Many felt that the pardon avoided possible prosecution for the former president, who resigned before his impeachment, allowing the Watergate scandal to continue to be covered up.
1977: Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders
When Jimmy Carter became president in 1977, he pardoned those who had avoided the Vietnam War draft on his first day in office, less than two years after the war ended.
As public opinion against the Vietnam War was growing, many young people sought to avoid the draft. The amnesty faced criticism from Vietnam veterans and conservative politicians, including those from the U.S. Veterans Affairs Commission, which 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 that revealed US military and diplomatic activities around the world. Manning was serving a 35-year sentence, but his sentence was commuted after seven years by President Obama.
Family Pardons – Clinton, Trump, Biden
On his last day in office in 2001, Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother Roger Clinton Jr. He was caught trying to sell cocaine to an undercover police officer in the 1980s and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Mr. Clinton’s pardon cleared Mr. Roger’s criminal record.
In 2020, President Trump pardoned his son-in-law’s father, Charles Kushner, who had served two terms in prison for tax evasion.
In 2024, Biden pardoned his son Hunter, even though he had previously said he would not. Hunter was facing sentencing in two criminal cases. He pleaded guilty to tax evasion in September and was convicted of illegal drug use and gun possession in June. He is the first child of a sitting president to be convicted.
