Trump is about to retake control of the presidential pardon, and he’s already indicated who could receive one from his new administration.
President-elect Donald Trump is set to retake the reins of power in January 2025, and he’s already indicated several people who could benefit from a presidential pardon.
President Joe Biden’s pardoning of his son Hunter, despite promises not to do so, has thrown the power back into the spotlight. Reserved exclusively for the executive branch, presidential pardons can be completely unconditional, and can forgive the recipient of any number of crimes, except in cases of impeachment.
Trump is no stranger to the power of pardon. Like most other presidents, he used it consistently throughout his first term in office, pardoning 144 people before his departure from the White House in 2020.
Since his announcement that he would run for president again, Trump has made several indications as to who he would pardon if he was returned to the presidency.The January 6 Rioters
Trump has made it clear that his top priority for pardons is the people who were most vocal in their support for him, even as President Joe Biden took power.
More than a thousand people have received charges for actions on January 6, which included riots, threats of violence, and breaking into the Capitol buildings, but Trump’s team has said that the incoming president will approach the rioters on a “case-by-case” basis.Peter Navarro
Trump’s former trade adviser, who joined his administration in 2017, served a four-month prison sentence after being found guilty of contempt of Congress. Navarro, who defied a congressional subpoena for the investigation into January 6, has said that he would reject a pardon from Trump in order to take his conviction to the Supreme Court.
