The ParDON Power.

Trump’s Pardons

Today is the fifth anniversary of the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. Today marks five years since an attempted insurrection, the moment Democracy began to unravel. But Donald Trump invoked his power to pardon criminals and pardoned the January Sixth Insurrectionists. Pardons are one of the most critical powers presidents have, a great responsibility, and Donald Trump is using them to pardon allies, sycophants, insurrectionists, and fraudsters. A full and unconditional pardon is a complete forgiveness for a crime and essentially treats the alleged events as if they never happened. It restores all civil rights and privileges to the individual without any conditions, restrictions, or requirements. With a simple signature, criminal convictions are erased. In 2025, Trump granted clemency to over 1,800 people. These pardons highlight a president more concerned with power and flattery than with upholding the laws of the land.

January

On day one of Trump’s second term, he issued pardons to 14 people who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. He then pardoned Ross William Ulbricht the very next day. Sentenced in 2015, Ulbricht, an American cybercriminal, ran a darknet market called the Silk Road and was convicted on multiple counts, serving life in prison. Silk Road was used by thousands of drug dealers and other unlawful vendors to distribute hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs and other “goods and services.” Ulbricht created the perfect online criminal marketplace for people to buy and sell drugs and other illegal goods and services anonymously.

Sentenced in 2024, two D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officers were the next set to be pardoned, for the murder and subsequent cover-up of 20-year-old Karon Hylton-Brown. Sutton was charged with murder for causing the crash that took Brown’s life, and Zabavsky was charged with conspiring to hide the events that led up to the crash. Overturning this case erodes trust in public safety. Systems are in place to ensure justice, transparency, and oversight. We have systems in place to keep our public servants accountable for their actions.

Wrapping up January pardons, Trump pardoned 24 anti-abortion activists who harassed and attacked abortion patients and clinics. The FACE Act has protected both patients and abortion clinics from violence and harassment, including murder, since 1994. Several were given either prison terms or probation for violating, conspiring against, or interfering with the FACE Act. Many were found to be physically blocking patients from accessing their doctors, some broke into clinics, and even stole fetal tissue.

February

Rod R. Blagojevich, former governor of Illinois, was sentenced to 14 years. He served about half of his sentence and was pardoned on February 10, 2025. Blagojevich was imprisoned for wire fraud under color of official right, attempt to commit extortion, conspiracy to solicit and bribe, and making false statements. In other words, Blagojevich was up to no good while in office; in fact, he was impeached in 2009 and was later convicted in 2011. Blagojevich allegedly tried to turn the Illinois government into a moneymaking operation for himself. He was accused of trying sell a U.S. Senate seat. He lied, he conspired, and he abused his position of public trust. Trump called this a terrible injustice. I beg to differ.

 March

​In March, nine more pardons and four commutations were granted. Commutations are not quite the same thing as full clemency. These reduce a criminal sentence to a lesser one, but do not erase the conviction. This month was all about fraud forgiveness, it seems. Brian Kelsey was sentenced to three years for violating campaign finance laws and conspiring to defraud the Federal Election Commission (“FEC”). The FEC is tasked with regulating federal elections, candidates, and PACs. The FEC oversees campaign finance and tracks all the money spent on federal elections. They monitor this to ensure elections stay fair and transparent. Kelsey and his conspirators orchestrated and concealed the movement of $91,000. Over half of this came from Kelsey’s State Senate campaign committee.

Next for March, Navy Veteran, Thomas Caldwell. The retired Navy veteran was tried alongside leaders of the Oath Keepers militia, a far-right anti-government organization. Prosecutors argued Caldwell had been a key player in the militia’s planning for the January 6th Capitol Riot attack. Ultimately, he was charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, aiding and abetting others to do the same, and tampering with documents.

Next on the list is Devon Archer. Archer was sentenced to one year and one day for helping to illegally issue and sell more than $60 million in tribal bonds. Two days later, five pardons were issued for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. Founders of the cryptocurrency exchange “BitMEX,” Arthur Hayes and Benjamin Delo, failed to establish an anti-money laundering program. They built and ran a cryptocurrency exchange but failed to implement basic anti-money laundering measures. This was clearly intentional. Hayes and Delo used BitMex to move money anonymously. They were charged alongside co-founder Samuel Reed and employee Gregory Dwyer. In the end, HDR Global Trading Limited, parent company of BitMex, was charged and agreed to pay up to $100 million for separate charges.

April

Starting in April with the former Las Vegas City Councilwoman, Michele Fiore. Fiore was charged with carrying out a scheme to defraud charitable donors by falsely claiming money she raised would be used to memorialize police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. Instead, she spent the money on things like political fundraising bills and personal rent payments. If you thought that was bad, it gets worse. The subsequent pardon went to the owner of Florida Health Care Companies, Paul Walczak, for failure to pay over $10 million in taxes. Walczak operated a network of health care companies, employed over 600 people, and paid $24 million in payroll annually. From 2016 to 2019, he withheld over $7 million of taxes from his employees' paychecks but did not pay this to the IRS. Instead, he withheld taxes to enrich himself.

May

​In the final days of May, Trump issued 19 pardons and eight commutations. You might remember when this was all over social media, TV stars Julie and Todd Chrisley were sentenced to seven and twelve years in prison. Respectively, for fraud and tax evasion. The Chrisleys defrauded banks of more than $30 million to support their luxurious lifestyle, yet they were granted a full pardon. This pardon highlights Trump's priorities. For example, four pardons were issued to former public authority figures, including a former sheriff, a former state legislator, a former U.S. Congressman, and a former governor. Some other notable pardons this month were issued in five drug trafficking cases.

​Former Sheriff Scott Howard Jenkins was sentenced to ten years for accepting over $75,000 in bribes in exchange for appointing specific individuals as auxiliary deputy sheriffs within his department. Former Arkansas State Senator Jeremy Hutchinson took a $20,000 bribe from a dentist in exchange for introducing a bill to change dentistry laws. Hutchinson ultimately took more than $150,000 in payments from the dentist and also used campaign funds for personal expenses, including vacations and a gym membership. These officials violated their oaths, were found guilty of one or more crimes, and should serve their sentences. Instead, they were pardoned.

​Lawrence Duran, co-owner of a mental healthcare company, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for a $205 million Medicare fraud scheme. Duran ran seven healthcare clinics, stole millions of taxpayer dollars, and preyed on those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, and substance abuse. Next, Imaad Sha Zuberi, a political donor, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for falsifying records to conceal his work as a foreign agent while lobbying high-level U.S. government officials. Zuberi evaded millions of dollars in taxes, made illegal campaign contributions, and tried to block a federal investigation.

October

​Things slowed down for a few months, but picked right back up in the fall. Ex-Congressman George Santos was sentenced to seven years for a long list of things. Santos filed fraudulent FEC reports, embezzled campaign funds, stole identities, charged credit cards without authorization, obtained unemployment benefits through fraud, and lied in official reports to the U.S. House of Representatives. Then. Trump pardoned Changpeng Zhao, who has business ties to the Trump family. He used his cryptocurrency company “Binance” to finance criminal activity and send money to terrorist organizations.

November

​Then, in November, 77 pardons were granted to those who tried to undo Trump’s 2020 election loss. While many still face state charges, this still signifies the steps Trump is willing to take to wipe away consequences for himself and his allies. Also worth noting, Former Tennessee State Rep. Glen Casada and his Chief of Staff, Cade Cothren, were sentenced to over two years in prison for money laundering. It’s the same story: pardoned. Government officials are abusing their power and robbing taxpayers for their own enrichment. Also granted a pardon on the same day was Robert Harshbarger, a pharmacist. Harshbarger was sentenced to four years in prison for substituting a cheaper drug imported from China for kidney dialysis patients. This misbranded drug was not FDA-approved; therefore, he put countless lives at risk.

Among the more notable cases of the January 6th attack, Suzanne Ellen Kaye was sentenced for her suspected role in the January 6 attack. She was in prison for threatening to shoot FBI agents who wanted to interview her. Additionally, Daniel Edwin Wilson was charged with breaching the Capitol and possession of an unregistered firearm. According to court documents, Wilson began planning in the winter of 2020.

December

​Trump closes out the year with five pardons in December. Starting with Former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was sentenced to 45 years for conspiring with some of the most significant drug traffickers in the world to transport 400 tons of cocaine to the United States. Hernandez abused his power to traffic in drugs and used these profits to finance his political career. The sad irony is that the United States just kidnapped Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela to stand trial on drug importation and weapons charges, facing the exact charges for which Hernandez was recently pardoned.

​The next three have two things in common: Texas and bribery. U.S. Congressman Enrique Roberto “Henry” Cuellar and his wife, Imedla Cuellar, were both charged with bribery and acting as a foreign agent. The couple allegedly accepted over half a million in bribes from two foreign entities, an oil company controlled by the Government of Azerbaijan and a bank in Mexico. Congressman Cuellar agreed to use his power to influence U.S. foreign policy and legislative activity in favor of the entities. In a different region of Texas, Timothy Jospeh Leiweke, a live entertainment CEO, rigged a bidding process for an arena at a public university to benefit his own company.

​To end the year's pardons, Tina Peters, former Mesa County Clerk (CO), was serving a sentence for her role in a scheme to breach the security of election equipment in 2021. Peters’s lawyer addressed Trump in a nine-page letter framing Peters as a political prisoner and argues that Trump should use his power to pardon her. Long story short, the letter worked. Peters was pardoned on December 5, 2025.

Closing

These pardons truly speak for themselves. Trump is abusing his pardon power, and it is clear that many of his acts of clemency have political undertones. A majority of those who have been pardoned are business allies of Trump, connected to the Trump family, politicians, or J6ers. There is a reason why people serving in our government take an oath to the Constitution, and not to the president. Our founding fathers understood the price that comes when one individual carries all the power. They understood that Democracy is fragile. When I enlisted in the U.S. Army, I swore an oath. I did not swear that oath to one individual; I swore an oath to protect and defend the United States Constitution. I am running in 2026 because Donald Trump is not a King. I am running in 2026 because I believe that our democracy belongs to the People, and I am one of the People. I encourage you to learn more and understand why winning 2026 matters so much. Review the clemency grants issued by Donald Trump in full; visit my website and learn about my platform.