As his first 100 days in office have come and gone, Trump 2.0, or the second iteration of Donald J. Trump’s tenure as chief executive of the U.S. is in full swing. Since his inauguration, the 45th and 47th President has pardoned some 1,600 individuals according to news outlets including ABC, the BBC, CBS, and NBC. These comprise an assortment of congresspeople, entrepreneurs, peace officers, low level politicians, rappers, reality stars, various celebrities and other less notables.
Among the better known of those befitting from Mr. Trump’s mercy are: former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, Chicago gang leader Larry Hoover, Rapper NBA YoungBoy, dark web creator Ross Ulbricht, and Mexican General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda.
Blagojevich’s sentence for federal corruption had been commuted, meaning a lesser penalty replacing an original, in which he received a harsher penalty during Trump’s first administration. Upon receiving his full and unconditional pardon absolving him of guilt, the democratic Blagojevich expressed his gratitude to the republican chief executive at a press conference on Feb. 10.
“Let me tell you from the bottom of my heart how deep my appreciation and gratitude is for President Trump,” he said in an emotional address at his elaborate Ravenswood Manor home outside Chicago.
Trump’s largess was extended to participants in the January 6, 2021 insurrection as well, in which a mob allegedly comprised of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building.
In the wake of these gestures of compassion is a cottage industry that has sprung up to attract well-heeled individuals who have run afoul of the law. Put plainly, the quest for clemency has become big business for those with the right connections. Folks in the realm of consulting and lobbying have found a profitable sideline to accompany Trump’s return to the White House. Among them are Brett Tolman, a former U.S. Attorney who has flipped across the courtroom from being a prosecutor to advocating for the rights of defendants.
Some speculate that Trump crony, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is a conduit for securing leniency for the right price. To be sure, “influence peddling,” the use or abuse of political connections to secure preferential treatment has a long and consequential history on both ends of the political spectrum. Conservative adherents point to the flurry of pardons spewed out by Joseph R. Biden at the end of his tenure for critics of the current president’s questionable practice of generosity. Curiously, two of the recipients of Trump’s charity are embattled first son Hunter Biden’s former business partners.
Devon Archer and Jason Galanis were confronted in several fraudulent enterprises including swindling the Oglala Sioux Indian tribe and pension fund of tens of millions of dollars. In March Archer and Galanis received separate pardons for this offense. Curiously they testified in the Republican push to impeach Biden in August of 2024 in an unsuccessful attempt to link the former President to unsavory business ventures Hunter Biden had with foreign entities.
With six months left in 2025, the dust is unlikely to clear soon.