How does Trump's pardon count compare to other recent presidents like Obama and Biden?
Executive summary
Joe Biden granted far more acts of clemency than recent predecessors, with Pew reporting his commutations alone were more than double Barack Obama’s 1,715 commutations during Obama’s eight years [1]. Donald Trump’s use of clemency was far smaller in his first term—143 pardons and 38 commutations by some counts [2] [3]—but his second term actions include very large, contested mass pardons (roughly 1,500 on Jan. 20, 2025, for January 6 cases) reported across multiple outlets [4] [5].
1. How many pardons and commutations each president granted — the headline numbers
Counting methodologies vary across sources, but available reporting places Barack Obama’s clemency grants in the high thousands for acts of clemency over eight years (Office of the Pardon Attorney data summarized by Pew and other outlets), with Obama issuing 1,715 commutations during his term cited as a key benchmark [1]. Joe Biden’s total acts of clemency are described by Pew as the largest in modern records, with Biden’s commutations “more than double” Obama’s 1,715 figure in that analysis [1]. Donald Trump’s first-term clemency totals were modest by comparison — widely cited totals include 143 pardons and 38 commutations in his first term [2] [3] — but his second-term actions include large proclamation-style pardons that dramatically increase his aggregate numbers (see section 3) [4] [5].
2. Why the raw totals can be misleading — proclamation vs. individual grants
The Justice Department and news organizations distinguish individual grants (listed on the Office of the Pardon Attorney site) from broad proclamations that can affect many people at once; historical tallies sometimes exclude class-wide proclamations such as mass clemency for groups [3]. That matters because a president who issues one proclamation covering hundreds or thousands of people can leap past predecessors in raw totals even if most grants are concentrated in a single action [5] [3]. Pew’s analysis explicitly relies on Justice Department data and flags that counting approaches affect comparisons [1] [3].
3. Trump’s second-term mass pardons changed the arithmetic
Multiple outlets report that on Jan. 20, 2025, Trump issued pardons clearing large numbers of people associated with January 6 prosecutions — figures reported around “approximately 1,500” in Newsweek and reflected in other compilations [4] [5]. Later reporting and DOJ social-media posts indicate additional sizable lists (for example, claims of 77 fake-electors pardons and other batches), and some compendia say Trump granted clemency to more than 1,600 people in his first 10 months of the second term [6] [7]. These mass actions are being litigated and debated in courts because proclamations that are phrased broadly can have ambiguous legal scope [8] [6].
4. Who gets pardoned — partisan patterns and controversies
Coverage stresses a pattern in Trump’s second term of pardoning political allies, campaign lawyers and donors as well as high-profile figures (Michael Grimm, George Santos, Rudy Giuliani, Rod Blagojevich, and others are named across reports) [9] [4] [5]. Biden’s clemency package also drew controversy for some specific pardons (including, reporting notes, a pardon of his son and other politically sensitive moves), and Pew highlights that aspects of Biden’s record—preemptive pardons and pardons for family members—sparked backlash [1]. Sources present competing views: some outlets frame Biden’s actions as unusually expansive in number and scope, while others focus criticism on the political ties evident in Trump’s pardons [1] [9].
5. Legal and practical effects — federal vs. state charges and court reactions
News coverage emphasizes that presidential clemency applies only to federal offenses; these pardons do not erase potential state charges [8] [6]. Reporting also shows courts and DOJ lawyers have differed on whether certain mass pardons preempt ongoing prosecutions, and judges have been skeptical in some cases [8] [6]. The Guardian notes legal uncertainty about how broadly a pardon’s wording will shield people accused of election-related conduct; Wikipedia and other outlets document mixed court responses [8] [6].
6. Limitations, gaps and what sources do not say
Available sources do not provide a single reconciled, up-to-the-minute count that neatly compares total pardons/commutations across Biden, Obama and Trump using one uniform methodology; Pew, DOJ pages and major news outlets each use slightly different metrics [1] [10] [3]. Sources do not settle final legal outcomes for every contested mass pardon—many court fights and administrative postings remain in flux [8] [6]. For claims not in these sources (for example, an authoritative, single-table total adjusting for proclamations versus individual grants through late 2025), available sources do not mention such a consolidated dataset.
Final assessment: Biden’s clemency activity is described as the largest in recent history by Pew, Obama remains the former benchmark for commutation totals (1,715 commutations), Trump’s first-term totals were modest but his second-term mass proclamations dramatically altered his totals and provoked litigation and political controversy [1] [3] [4] [5].