How many total pardons and commutations has Donald Trump granted compared to other recent presidents?
Executive summary
Donald Trump has used clemency far more aggressively in his second term than is typical: reporting and compiled tallies show mass pardons that include roughly 1,500 Jan.‑6 defendants on his first day and hundreds more across the year, with outlet counts ranging from dozens to more than a thousand-plus; Ballotpedia reported 142 pardons and 28 commutations in his second term as of Nov. 9, 2025, while other outlets and analyses describe totals well into the hundreds or beyond due to mass proclamations [1] [2] [3]. Independent commentators and advocacy groups describe a pattern of pardons favoring political allies and loyalists and note departures from traditional pardon-review processes [4] [5] [6].
1. A clemency spree — numbers and how they add up
Counting Trump’s clemency actions depends on method: Ballotpedia’s count lists 142 pardons and 28 commutations in his second term as of Nov. 9, 2025 [2], while multiple outlets describe mass, category‑wide pardons — most notably the roughly 1,500 Jan. 6‑related pardons issued on his first day — that dramatically inflate the headcount if each named or covered person is tallied individually [1] [7]. Some investigative and opinion pieces place overall tallies even higher, reporting “more than 1,800” or “over 2,000” clemency grants in 2025, but those figures rest on different counting conventions and aggregations of mass proclamations [1] [6].
2. Why the counts diverge — proclamations vs. individual grants
The core reason for conflicting totals is legal form: Trump issued traditional individual pardons and commutations and also issued sweeping proclamations that purport to cover broad classes of people (for example, Jan. 6 participants and later broad language covering conduct tied to the 2020 election). When a proclamation covers a class, some trackers count the single proclamation while others count every potentially covered individual, producing vastly different totals [2] [3] [8].
3. Who benefited — political allies, erstwhile opponents, and symbolic acts
Reporting finds a pattern in recipients: high‑profile allies, political loyalists, former GOP lawmakers, and figures tied to the 2020 election/Jan. 6 prosecutions have been prominent beneficiaries. Outlets document pardons and commutations for Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell and multiple lawmakers and donors, and note that some grants were made to people not facing federal charges at the time of pardon [4] [7] [9]. Critics argue this fits an agenda of rewarding loyalty and protecting political allies [5] [6].
4. Process and norms under strain
Observers emphasize that Trump bypassed ordinary pardon channels: reporting says he dismissed the career pardon attorney and installed political loyalists while creating ad hoc recommendation roles, prompting former pardon office officials to testify about politicization and “value[ing] political loyalty” over standard review [5]. Legal scholars and DOJ observers also flagged that Trump’s vague, blanket pardons force courts and the Justice Department to interpret who is covered, raising legal uncertainty [8] [3].
5. Outcomes and controversies — recidivism, legal challenges, and symbolism
News coverage links several clemency recipients to later arrests or to highly controversial histories, which critics say undermines rule‑of‑law norms [1]. Legal analysts predict — and some reporting shows — that the unusual delegation and breadth of some pardons are spawning litigation over scope and effect; experts say broad or imprecise pardons invite disputes about whether they cover specific charged conduct [8] [3].
6. How this compares to recent presidents — available sources do not provide a full comparative table
Available sources do not provide a comprehensive, side‑by‑side numerical comparison of total pardons/commutations for Trump versus recent presidents in this packet. Ballotpedia notes long‑run averages and historical patterns (for example, that Franklin Roosevelt averaged many more clemencies per year) but does not give a contemporaneous per‑president total comparison in the excerpts provided here [2]. Advocacy and investigative pieces focus on Trump’s volume and style rather than a standardized presidential league table [4] [6].
7. Bottom line — numbers matter, but so does form and intent
Counting methods produce very different totals: counting proclamations as single acts yields one set of numbers (e.g., Ballotpedia’s 142 pardons, 28 commutations in the second term as of Nov. 9, 2025), while counting each individual covered by mass grants yields totals in the thousands [2] [1]. Beyond raw totals, sources converge on a second, weightier point: the scale, the beneficiaries, and the bypassing of ordinary review processes have generated legal disputes and political controversy about the use — and possible abuse — of clemency power [8] [5] [6].
Limitations: this analysis uses only the provided reporting and compilations; full, authoritative DOJ aggregate counts and court rulings resolving the scope of class‑wide pardons are not included in these sources and would add needed precision [10] [2].