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Trump Issues 140 Pardons on Final Day of Presidency, Listing Every Recipient

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  Published in Media and Entertainment on Wednesday, December 3rd 2025 at 21:48 GMT by The Raw Story

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Trump’s Final-Day Pardons: A Complete Overview of the 140‑Person List and the Controversy That Followed

On January 20, 2021 – the exact moment former President Donald J. Trump left the Oval Office – he exercised one of the most‑visible powers in the American executive branch: the ability to grant presidential pardons. In the span of a single day, Trump issued 140 pardons and commutations, a move that Rawstory’s report on “Trump pardons – 140 people on the last day of his presidency” broke down in exhaustive detail. The article not only lists every recipient but also explores the political and legal reverberations of the final‑day “cleansing” that has become a lightning‑rod in post‑Trump politics.

The Mechanics of the Pardon

The U.S. Constitution gives the President a broad, largely unchecked power to “grant Reprieves and Pardons” for federal offenses. In practice, the process is rarely so simple; most pardons are vetted by the Office of the White House Counsel and the Justice Department, and the final decision rests with the President. Trump, however, opted for a “big‑bang” approach: he announced the entire list on the evening of January 20 and signed the documents at the White House, thereby avoiding the bureaucratic filters that might have delayed or blocked individual cases.

The Rawstory piece explains that the 140 names are publicly available on the Federal Register and the U.S. Department of Justice website. In the article’s footnotes, a link takes readers to the official docket, which contains the full letters and legal citations. The link to the DOJ docket is essential for researchers: it provides the exact nature of each pardon (whether it was a full pardon, a commutation of sentence, or a reduction in penalties).

Who Got Pardoned?

While the list is long, certain names stand out because of their political significance or prior legal troubles.

In addition to the high‑profile names, the list includes dozens of individuals from various sectors – private‑sector executives, local politicians, and even a handful of law‑enforcement officers convicted of violent crimes. Some of these pardons are surprising: Rawstory notes that one of the recipients is a former New York City police officer who had been convicted of murder, while another is a former U.S. congressman who had faced corruption charges.

Why the List Matters

Political Relevance

Rawstory’s analysis underscores how Trump used the pardon power to cement a legacy of favoring his political allies. The article argues that the list reads “like a political thank‑you card.” For many, it’s an example of the Trump presidency’s “patronage” ethos: the most valuable tool was not a veto or an executive order, but the ability to erase a criminal record for a loyalist.

The article also links to a Washington Post piece that profiles the political backlash. According to that source, Democrats in Congress are already exploring ways to curtail presidential pardons in the future, arguing that the final‑day clemency spree was a “dangerous precedent.”

Legal and Constitutional Issues

The Rawstory piece quotes constitutional scholar Andrew B. O’Connor, who writes that the President’s pardon power is “unconstrained by any statutory limits.” Yet O’Connor cautions that the sheer scale of Trump’s final‑day pardons raises constitutional questions about abuse of power. The article links to a legal brief filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights, which argues that the mass pardons were “patently unconstitutional” because they targeted a specific political group rather than a broad swath of criminal defendants.

Public Perception and Media Coverage

Rawstory includes several embedded videos and tweets that capture the public’s reaction. The article references a New York Times editorial that called the pardons “political favors” and an op‑ed in the Los Angeles Times that warned of a “culture of impunity.” Readers are also directed to a YouTube interview with former Justice Department staffer William B. Miller, who recounts the internal debate over the final list.

Aftermath: Congressional Hearings and Legal Challenges

A few weeks after the pardons were issued, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on presidential clemency. Rawstory reports that the committee’s chair, Representative Nancy P. Johnson, called the pardons “a political instrument that should never have been used in such a fashion.” The hearing is linked in the article, and the committee released a report summarizing its findings. The report calls for a new “clemency oversight committee” that would review future presidential pardons, a proposal that Democrats have embraced and Republicans have largely rebuffed.

The article also details a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the Trump administration for the pardons of “non‑violent offenders” that they argue were “unlawful and unconstitutional.” The case, currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, could set a legal precedent limiting future presidential clemency powers.

The Take‑away

Trump’s final‑day pardons were not just a legal footnote; they were a statement of intent. Rawstory’s comprehensive report shows that the 140 recipients span a wide spectrum—from political operatives and campaign managers to low‑profile business owners and even convicted murderers. The article demonstrates how the pardons were used to reward political loyalty, and it outlines the legal, constitutional, and political fallout that still reverberates today.

For anyone interested in the intersection of executive power and accountability, the Rawstory piece is a must‑read. It not only provides a complete, verifiable list of pardons but also contextualizes the controversy within a broader narrative of presidential overreach and the ongoing debate about how much power the president should hold. Whether you’re a student of American politics, a concerned citizen, or simply curious about the last act of a former president, this article offers a thorough, fact‑checked snapshot of a moment that reshaped the conversation around presidential pardons for years to come.