President Donald Trump reportedly plans to grant roughly 100 pardons and commutations on Tuesday, his last full day in office, a last-minute exercise of presidential power that is expected to benefit a range of recipients, from controversial political allies to big-name rappers, according to CNN. The steady stream of pardons and commutations Trump had been dispensing in the lame-duck period were put on hold leading up to the Electoral College count on January 6, after which Trump’s focus was expected to return to the clemency decisions, which were further delayed by the stunning attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. Now, the increasingly alienated and disgraced president is apparently clinging to his pardon powers—a tool he has repeatedly used to reward political loyalists or friends, and among the few unilateral actions available to him.
Tuesday’s list, which was reportedly finalized during a White House meeting on Sunday, will likely be the final pardoning spree of Trump’s tenure and is not expected to include the president himself; advisers have urged Trump not to issue a self-pardon because it would imply guilt, CNN reports. Advisers close to the president have apparently also encouraged him not to grant clemency to anyone involved in the insurrection, a move Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime loyalist, warned against during a Fox News interview Sunday, saying he thinks pardoning Capitol rioters “would destroy” Trump. Instead, allies expect Trump to grant clemency to those who could benefit him after leaving office. “Everything is a transaction. He likes pardons because it is unilateral. And he likes doing favors for people he thinks will owe him,” one source told CNN.
Criminals have been clamoring at Trump’s heels to achieve exactly this result, one well-connected lobbyists helped facilitate—some for a hefty price. Trump associates have apparently tried to monetize their access to the outgoing administration by selling pardons, or the hope of them, to convicted felons seeking clemency, with some allies bringing in tens of thousands of dollars to promote their clients’ position to the White House in recent weeks, the New York Times reported Sunday. The lucrative pardon lobbying reportedly ramped up as Trump’s chances of overturning the election became more and more distant, and people seeking pardons or commutations turned to fixers advertising their clout within the administration for last-minute reprieves. Since November, at least 10 convicted criminals have retained lobbyists whose described services include “pardon,” “commutation,” or “clemency,” according to Axios.
Registered lobbyists being paid to advocate for pardon and commutation seekers—a legal, if norm-defying channel to pursue clemency—underscores the particular grift inherent to the Trump era. “This kind of off-books influence peddling, special-privilege system denies consideration to the hundreds of ordinary people who have obediently lined up as required by Justice Department rules,” Margaret Love, the former head of the Justice Department’s clemency process, told the Times. The market to buy access to Trump, Love said, “is a basic violation of the longstanding effort to make this process at least look fair.”
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