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How many pardons has President trump issued
Executive summary
Available reporting shows President Donald Trump has issued a large, fast-moving slate of clemency actions in his second term — including a mass Jan. 20, 2025 pardon of more than 1,500 people tied to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and a Nov. 9, 2025 proclamation naming 77 people linked to the “fake electors” scheme; Ballotpedia counted 142 pardons as of Nov. 9, 2025 and 28 commutations in the second term [1] [2] [3]. Coverage also documents follow-up individual pardons and corrections to online pardon documents as the administration continues to add names and clarify the scope of some grants [4] [5].
1. What the headline numbers mean — mass pardons plus individual grants
Trump’s clemency record in his second term so far includes both a sweeping inauguration-day action that he said applied to more than 1,500 people charged in connection with Jan. 6, 2021, and subsequent targeted proclamations and individual pardons — for example a Nov. 9 proclamation listing 77 people tied to the fake-electors effort and more recent individual pardons for Jan. 6-related defendants [1] [2] [4]. Ballotpedia’s running tally reported 142 total pardons and 28 commutations through Nov. 9, 2025; that figure explicitly excludes unnamed individuals encompassed by mass pardons [3].
2. Why counts vary across outlets
Different outlets report different totals because they measure different things: some counts (like Ballotpedia’s) list individually named pardons and commutations, while mass proclamations and non‑publicized grants can expand who is — in effect — pardoned without a line-by-line public roster. Reuters, The Guardian and The New York Times emphasize the Nov. 9 mass proclamation covering 77 named people but also note it “could include others not named,” which complicates a simple tally [2] [6] [1]. Ballotpedia’s 142‑figure is a snapshot as of Nov. 9 and explicitly notes unnamed individuals may not be included [3].
3. Legal scope and disputes around these pardons
Reporting shows debate over what some of the pardons actually cover. For instance, courts and prosecutors have argued about whether a broad Jan. 20 pardon covering Jan. 6 conduct extends to unrelated offenses (an appeals court said the plain language did not apply to some separate firearms charges, prompting a later separate pardon for that defendant) [4] [7]. Policy and legal observers — and outlets like Politico and Reuters — flag that the administration’s approach raises novel questions about the reach of presidential clemency and how it interacts with state prosecutions [7] [2].
4. Political and ethical lenses in coverage
News organizations frame the clemency drive differently: Reuters and The Guardian stress the political nature of pardoning allies accused of seeking to overturn the 2020 result, noting named recipients such as Rudy Giuliani and others [2] [6]. Forbes and other outlets highlight ties between pardoned individuals and Trump — donors, allies or former staffers — and quantify reported campaign donations from those on recent lists [8]. Conservative outlets and op-eds argue the pardons are a legitimate exercise of the presidential prerogative and present constitutional defenses; The Federalist, for example, defends broad pardons covering election‑related conduct [9].
5. Administrative handling and transparency questions
Coverage also records administrative glitches and transparency concerns: the Justice Department posted pardons online that initially bore apparently identical copies of Trump’s signature and later replaced them, which the department called a “technical error” and staffing issue; that episode fed scrutiny about process even as officials insisted the pardons themselves were valid [5] [10]. Reuters and other outlets note some clemency actions were announced via social posts from the Pardon Attorney rather than formal White House press releases, complicating public tracking [2].
6. How to interpret “how many” going forward
Because mass proclamations can name many people collectively and because the administration continues to issue discrete pardons and clarifications, any single, static number is provisional. Ballotpedia’s 142 pardons and 28 commutations through Nov. 9 is the clearest publicly compiled tally of individually tracked grants, but that count does not capture unnamed beneficiaries of mass pardons and will change as the administration issues more actions [3] [2]. For the most up‑to‑date, authoritative list the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney posts clemency grants and updates [11].
Limitations and next steps: This summary relies on the assembled reporting and a Ballotpedia tally through Nov. 9, 2025; available sources do not provide a single definitive, up‑to‑the‑minute count that reconciles named, unnamed and mass‑proclamation recipients. If you want, I can track and summarize the Justice Department’s published clemency log page‑by‑page and produce a running count that distinguishes individually released pardons, commutations and mass proclamations.