How many presidential pardons did Donald Trump grant by number and list of recipients?
Executive summary
Donald J. Trump’s second-term clemency record includes at least one mass pardon on Jan. 20, 2025 that covered “nearly 1,600” people tied to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol breach, and by November 2025 reporting he had issued dozens more high‑profile pardons — with media tallies noting totals such as “more than 1,600 people” or 142 individual pardons tracked by Ballotpedia for his second term as of Nov. 9, 2025 [1] [2] [3]. Available sources give multiple partial lists and examples (Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell, Changpeng Zhao, Trevor Milton, NBA YoungBoy and many Jan. 6 defendants), but no single source in the provided set publishes a definitive, consolidated, final count and an exhaustive recipient list [4] [5] [2] [6].
1. The headline numbers: mass pardons and disparate tallies
Trump issued a sweeping blanket pardon on his inauguration day that officials and press reporting described as covering “nearly 1,600” or roughly 1,500 people tied to Jan. 6 prosecutions [1] [7]. Beyond that mass action, news outlets and trackers reported many individual, named pardons and commutations during 2025; Business Insider and other outlets summarized that “more than 1,600 people” had received clemency that year and Ballotpedia counted 142 individual pardons in the second term as of Nov. 9, 2025 — figures that overlap with, but do not fully reconcile, the mass‑pardon estimates [2] [3].
2. Who appears on the recipient lists that outlets published
Reporting and government postings name a mix of high‑profile allies, donors and celebrities among the recipients: Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro were included in a November 2025 proclamation tied to the 2020 “alternate electors” actions; Trevor Milton, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and rapper NBA YoungBoy were individually covered in press stories after receiving clemency; earlier lists include Ross Ulbricht and other notable cases [4] [6] [2] [5].
3. Government posting vs. media compilations — gaps and overlaps
The Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney posts clemency warrants and proclamations (including a Jan. 20, 2025 proclamation about Jan. 6 offenses and later postings) but media outlets compiled additional named batches and tallies that sometimes diverge in scope and number; Newsweek reported approximately 1,500 Jan. 6 pardons on inauguration day while Ballotpedia and Business Insider produced separate running counts of individual pardons and commutations [8] [7] [3] [2]. Available sources do not provide a single consolidated government list in the search set that enumerates every named recipient across all proclamations and individual warrants.
4. Legal and practical limits: federal pardons vs. state charges
Multiple outlets stress that presidential pardons apply only to federal offenses; many pardoned figures still face state prosecutions, and several pardons have been described as “largely symbolic” where state charges remain active [9] [10]. The Guardian and Slate pieces caution that some proclamations’ language may be unusually broad and potentially ambiguous in scope [11] [9].
5. Partisan patterns, critics and defenders
Investigations and watchdogs flagged a pattern: critics allege that pardons favored political allies, donors and well‑connected figures and often bypassed Justice Department norms; proponents framed many of the grants as correcting perceived prosecutorial overreach [12] [13] [14]. CREW and The Marshall Project documented that many pardons appeared to contravene standard OPA (Office of the Pardon Attorney) guidelines and rewarded individuals who did not meet traditional clemency criteria [15] [12].
6. Why exact enumeration is hard from available reporting
Sources in the set provide overlapping but not fully reconciled counts: mass proclamations name broad classes (e.g., “all persons” involved in Jan. 6 prosecutions) while media trackers report different snapshots (e.g., “more than 1,600,” “roughly 1,500,” or 142 named pardons tallied as of a date) [1] [7] [3]. The Office of the Pardon Attorney pages and press summaries exist, but the supplied search results do not include a single authoritative, dated master list that converts each proclamation and warrant into one canonical recipient roster [8] [16].
7. Bottom line and what’s missing from the record provided
Available sources show Trump used clemency extensively in 2025, including a Jan. 20, 2025 mass pardon of about 1,500–1,600 Jan. 6–related defendants and many later high‑profile individual pardons; precise total counts differ by outlet and by date [1] [7] [3] [2]. A complete, consolidated by‑name list and a single definitive tally are not present in the provided search results; compiling one would require aggregating Justice Department warrant postings and every proclamation beyond the sources supplied here [8] [16].