Topline

President-elect Donald Trump has suggested he could issue pardons to a string of controversial figures during his time on the campaign trail in what appear to be overtures to his base, vindication against what he claims is a corrupt justice system and rewards for loyalty to him.

Key Facts

Who Else Could Trump Pardon?

Journalists, social media users and Polymarket bettors have speculated about a long list of characters, while others facing criminal charges have made new requests to Trump after his election win on Tuesday. Journalists and prosecutors have suggested Trump could order the Justice Department to dismiss the federal corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams or pardon him if he’s convicted. Trump has said he predicted Adams would be indicted because of Adams’ sharp rhetoric regarding the migrant crisis in New York City, building on his baseless claims that the Justice Department is working at the Biden administration’s behest. “I know what it’s like to be persecuted by the D.O.J. for speaking out against open borders,” Trump said at a charity dinner in New York City last month, sympathizing with Adams. In another case that has links to Trump’s own criminal election interference charges in Georgia, Trump has said rapper Young Thug was being treated “very unfairly” during an interview with podcaster Adin Ross in August. The rapper recently agreed to plead guilty to drug- and gun-related charges in the racketeering case brought by Fulton County Prosecutor Fani Willis’ office, who also charged Trump under the state’s RICO statute. Washington Post columnist Phillip Bump also predicted Trump “would almost certainly quickly pardon” Todd and Julie Chrisley, the Atlanta reality TV stars serving prison time for federal tax evasion and bank fraud charges. Their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, spoke at the Republican National Convention and derided “rogue prosecutors . . . the Democrats’ corruption” and “the Biden family’s corruption” in what was widely viewed as a direct appeal to Trump to pardon her parents if he were elected.

Can Trump Pardon Himself?

The legality of the scenario is unclear as Trump is the first person elected president to have been convicted of a crime, but Trump previously dismissed the idea, telling NBC News last year, prior to his Manhattan hush money conviction, it was “very unlikely” he’d pardon himself, because he “didn’t do anything wrong.” Legal scholars are split on whether the Constitution would permit him to do so. George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley noted in a 2018 USA Today column that “there is no language” in the the Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, which lays out the terms for presidential pardons, that specifies “who may or may not be the subject of a pardon,” leaving open the possibility a president could pardon themself, though Turley writes that “it would be a disastrous idea.” Others, including law professors Laurence Tribe, Richard Painter and Norman Eisen, wrote for the Washington Post that because the Constitution prevents the president from using his pardon power to prevent his own impeachment and removal, and those who are removed through impeachment are subject to criminal prosecution, it “would make no sense if the president could pardon himself.”

Will Trump Need To Pardon Himself?

It likely won’t be necessary for Trump to pardon himself in his federal election interference and classified documents cases as the Justice Department has a longstanding policy of declining to prosecute sitting presidents, and the agency is reportedly working to “wind down” the cases against Trump before he takes office, NBC News and CNN reported, citing anonymous sources. The Constitution prohibits Trump from pardoning cases at the state level, which rules out his ability to pardon himself in his New York criminal fraud case and his Fulton County, Georgia, election interference case.

Big Number

143. That’s how many people Trump pardoned during his first White House term. He also issued 94 commutations. Only two other presidents, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, granted fewer acts of clemency, according to Pew Research. Trump’s pardons were particularly controversial because many of the individuals had personal connections to the president, including former members of his 2016 campaign team, Steve Bannon, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, George Papadopoulos and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Key Background

Presidents have broad authority to issue pardons in ongoing and completed criminal, but not civil, federal cases under Article II Section 2 of the Constitution, which states the president “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” Pardons do not wipe convictions from a person’s record, but instead eliminate some, but not all, penalties associated with a conviction. Individuals convicted of federal felonies and pardoned by the president would still be prohibited from voting in federal elections in some states, for example, according to the Brookings Institution. Pardoned individuals also do not have a right to a refund for a monetary fine or the seizure of assets or cash in connection with their criminal cases, unless the pardon was issued before the money or property was “fully vested in a person or entity” or if “the conditions of the pardon preclude this.”

Further Reading

Trump Pardons And Commutes 143 People On His Last Day — But Doesn’t Pardon His Family (Forbes)

Cybercriminal Ross Ulbricht’s Family Says He’ll Be Freed In January—Here’s What We Know (Forbes)