The Pardon Office Is Open for Business: Barbara L. McQuade

A pattern is emerging in Donald Trump’s use of the pardon power: The president appears to view clemency as a means to simultaneously reward supporters and rewrite history.

Since taking office for his second term in January, he has granted clemency to almost 1,600 defendants. According to Trump — who accused the Biden administration of “weaponizing” federal law enforcement to persecute political rivals — he is simply correcting injustices. The two dozen recipients of pardons and commutations this week include a former Chicago gangkingpin, three founders of a cryptocurrency exchange, and an embezzling nursing home executive whose mother attended ...