Did Trump not know who he pardoned in 2025
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Executive summary
President Trump issued large-scale pardons in 2025 — including blanket clemency for roughly 1,500–1,600 January 6 defendants on January 20, 2025 — and has publicly acknowledged at least one pardon where he said he did not recognize the recipient by name, telling CBS “I don’t know who he is” about a pardoned individual [1] [2]. Reporting and archival lists show he granted clemency to well over a thousand people by mid‑2025, and critics say he often bypassed normal review procedures [3] [1] [4].
1. What happened: high volume pardons and a public admission
Trump’s second‑term pardon program moved at an unprecedented pace: multiple outlets and compilations count roughly 1,500–1,600 people pardoned for January 6‑related offenses on his first day back in office, and totals of clemency recipients climbed into the thousands over 2025 [1] [3]. In at least one televised interview, when asked about a specific pardon he had granted — to Zhao, the Binance founder — Trump replied, “Okay, are you ready? I don’t know who he is,” a remark reported by CNBC [2].
2. Documentary record: government lists and journalists’ tallies
The Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney maintains a public list of “Clemency Grants by President Donald J. Trump (2025–Present),” documenting proclamations such as the mass pardon for January 6 offenses [5]. Independent tallies and news outlets (Newsweek, Business Insider, Wikipedia compilations cited by multiple outlets) catalog hundreds to thousands of additional pardons through 2025, including high‑profile names like Ross Ulbricht and Changpeng Zhao [6] [7] [8].
3. The “didn’t know” moment: context and competing readings
The CNBC report cites Trump’s line, “I don’t know who he is,” in a CBS “60 Minutes” context when discussing a pardon of Zhao, indicating a public admission of unfamiliarity with a pardoned individual [2]. One reading is that the president delegated selection or relied on advisers and therefore might not know every beneficiary personally. Another reading — favored by critics in the press — is that it signals a cavalier approach to who receives clemency, reinforcing concerns about lack of vetting [2] [4].
4. Process questions: formal review vs. political picks
Multiple reports show Trump sidelined the conventional pardon pipeline: he fired the career Pardon Attorney and installed a political appointee, and advisers with political ties reportedly influenced decisions; critics say the usual Justice Department review was often bypassed [3] [4]. The Guardian and other outlets note legal experts tie subsequent arrests of some pardoned people to a hurried, less rigorous vetting process [4].
5. Political pattern: allies, financiers and symbolism
Investigations by outlets like Forbes and CREW document a pattern in choices — pardons favoring political allies, campaign donors and business figures aligned with the administration — which critics argue reflects loyalty and political calculation rather than legal merit [9] [10] [11]. Some pardons are principally symbolic (for people not charged federally) while others erased federal convictions for prominent defendants [12] [8].
6. Legal limits and practical effects
A president’s federal pardon cannot erase state convictions; CNN’s coverage of Tina Peters underscores that a federal pardon has no legal impact on an existing state sentence, even if the White House pushes for transfers or other steps [13]. Other analyses show that, despite many proclamations, the practical number of people who obtained pardon certificates or saw immediate release may be smaller than headline counts suggest (available sources do not mention an exact nationwide certificate tally; see [5]4).
7. What reporters and experts disagree about
Journalists and legal scholars agree the volume and political character of Trump’s 2025 pardons are extraordinary [1] [4]. They diverge, however, on motive and consequence: defenders argue he corrected perceived injustices and protected allies; critics call it an abuse of power that undermines rule‑of‑law norms and was implemented without normal safeguards [1] [4] [11].
8. Bottom line for the original question
Did Trump “not know who he pardoned”? On at least one public occasion he said as much about a specific pardonee — “I don’t know who he is” — which reporters recorded [2]. That statement sits alongside documentary evidence that many clemency decisions were driven by advisers and political allies and sometimes issued without customary DOJ vetting [5] [3] [4]. Sources do not offer a comprehensive inventory proving he personally knew or didn’t know every single recipient, but they do show he acknowledged unfamiliarity in specific cases and that the process frequently deviated from established review practices [2] [4].