Yesterday, I described the final scandal of the Clinton administration: Bill Clinton’s midnight pardon of Marc Rich. If the Rich pardon was a snowflake, then the pardons of President Trump’s second term are a blizzard.
The scope and magnitude of Trump’s second-term pardons are unprecedented. Joe Biden granted 80 pardons in his four-year term, but Trump’s pardons make his predecessor’s look like a drop in the bucket. In the first year of the second Trump administration, the president issued 166 individual pardons, as well as a mass pardon that erased the verdicts of more than 1,500 January 6 Capitol rioters. In other words, even putting aside the rioters’ collective pardon, Trump is now issuing pardons at eight times the rate Biden did. Nonetheless, the fact that a president issues more pardons than his predecessors is not necessarily problematic. The real problem lies in the great number of particular second-term pardons that appear indefensible. Such pardons fall into five categories.
AI Overview
During his second term in office as of May 2026, President Trump has faced significant scrutiny for a "pardon economy" and the commercialization of the presidency through various high-priced products. Critics and investigations highlight a pattern where wealthy individuals, often donors or business allies, receive clemency that wipes out billions in court-ordered debts. Simultaneously,
the Trump family has reportedly "pocketed" nearly $1.8 billion in cash and gifts since his 2024 reelection, driven by digital ventures and merchandise sales.
This is breaking (going against) the Constitution:
AI Overview
Presidents are prohibited from profiting off their offices through two specific provisions in the original text of the U.S. Constitution, rather than a single constitutional amendment. These are known as the Emoluments Clauses:
- The Domestic Emoluments Clause (Article II, Section 1, Clause 7): This prevents the president from receiving any money, benefits, or "emoluments" (other than their established salary) from the federal government or any state.
- The Foreign Emoluments Clause (Article I, Section 9, Clause 8): This forbids any person holding a U.S. office of profit or trust from accepting any gifts, payments, titles, or offices from foreign kings, princes, or states without the explicit consent of Congress.
but the reality is this:
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