Intriguing reporting on pardon pushes as Prez Trump’s clemency pen rests
As detailed on this page at DOJ’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, Prez Donald Trump was quite active with his clemency pen at the start of his second term in the Oval Office. In fact, he granted multiple pardons in each and every month from January through May (and, of course, did a massive clemency grant on Inauguration Day for those prosecuted for Jan 6 events).
But, interestingly, it has now been almost three full months since Prez Trump has granted any form of clemency. Intriguingly, after the last big batch of pardons and commutations in late May, there were press reports that more clemency grants were expected “in the coming days.” And yet, none have been recently forthcoming, leading me to wonder whether some of the pundit criticism around the last group of grants (some examples collected here and here and here) may have had some impact on how Prez Trump is thnking about clemency action.
I provide this backstory as a prelude to flagging a couple notable new press stories about efforts to advance clemency applications for a couple notable defendants:
From Bloomberg Law, “How a $30 Million Pardon Scheme Failed Before It Got to Trump“
From the New York Times, “Flattery, Lobbyists and a Business Deal: Crypto’s Richest Man Campaigns for a Pardon“
I have no idea whether and how these press pieces may be impacting clemency decision-making inside the White House. But I do think it notable that it has now been quite some time, at least by second-term Trump standards, since the clemency pen has been active.
A few of many prior recent related posts: