How many people did Trump commute versus pardon in both terms?
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Executive summary
Donald J. Trump’s record on executive clemency is numerically contested in public sources, but the best-documented snapshot for his first term shows roughly 143 pardons and about 94 commutations (about 237 clemency acts total) while reporting on his second term varies wildly depending on the cut-off date and whether mass pardons for Jan. 6 participants are counted — conservative tallies in late 2025 put second-term pardons around 142 and commutations around 28, which would yield combined totals of roughly 285 pardons and 122 commutations across both terms (subject to the reporting discrepancies noted below) [1] [2] [3].
1. First term — the commonly cited baseline: roughly 143 pardons and ~94 commutations
Most mainstream compilations and archival lists place Trump’s clemency activity in his first presidency at about 237 total acts, usually broken down as roughly 143 pardons and 94 commutations (some sources list 144 pardons and 94 commutations depending on inclusion rules for late grants) [1] [2] [4]. That tally is reinforced by contemporaneous reporting of the flurry of late-term actions in January 2021 and by historical aggregations on public record pages that classify who received full pardons versus who received commutations [5] [6].
2. Second term — numbers diverge depending on date and whether mass Jan. 6 actions are read narrowly or broadly
Second-term figures are fractured: an early Department of Justice summary through January 2025 recorded a much smaller slate — for example noting 58 pardons and 12 commutations as of that snapshot — but later trackers and news services report a much larger second-term total, including mass proclamations that pardoned people convicted for Jan. 6-related offenses (a move various outlets estimated at roughly 1,500 people) and a more expansive tally compiled by Ballotpedia that listed 142 pardons and 28 commutations as of November 9, 2025 [7] [8] [3]. The discrepancy stems from timing (many grants occurred in concentrated bursts), differing definitions (named individual grants vs. sweeping proclamations), and continually updated registries [9] [3].
3. Reconciling the sources — why counts vary and what can confidently be said
Counts diverge for three clear reasons: first, some sources enumerate only individually named clemency documents while others add blanket proclamations that apply to broad classes of defendants (notably the Jan. 6-related pardons) [9] [3]; second, media lists assembled immediately after a flurry of late-term grants sometimes omitted or double-counted entries that official OPA pages later clarified [6] [5]; third, independent aggregators (Wikipedia, Ballotpedia, news outlets) update on different cadences and apply different inclusion rules, producing small but consequential differences such as 143 vs. 144 first-term pardons [1] [4] [2]. What can be stated with confidence from the available reporting is that Trump’s first term produced roughly 140–144 pardons and roughly 90–95 commutations, and that his second term — if measured by named individual grants logged by trackers like Ballotpedia as of late 2025 — added roughly 140 pardons and a few dozen commutations, but when mass proclamations are counted the second-term pardons may number in the thousands [2] [3] [8].
4. Implications and the practical takeaway
Numerically, then, the safest short answer is this: across his first term Trump issued roughly 143 pardons and about 94 commutations; his second term’s count depends on whether mass, category-based proclamations are counted — narrow tallies from reputable trackers put the second term at about 142 pardons and 28 commutations (bringing named-individual totals to roughly 285 pardons and 122 commutations across both terms), while inclusion of mass Jan. 6 pardons dramatically increases the pardon count by approximately 1,500 people according to several news reports — a methodological choice that substantially alters any headline number and must be disclosed whenever totals are cited [1] [3] [8].