Trump grants clemency to Jan. 6 defendants, crypto CEO, George Santos

President Donald Trump this year granted clemency to a number of people he sees as victims of an unfair justice system. Some were tied to his newfound interest in cryptocurrency or sharing 2020 election grievances, while another simply came up during a round of golf.

While presidents of both parties have long used their pardon powers in controversial ways, Trump’s pardon activity in 2025 was marked by its volume and the deal-making style that has been a defining feature of his approach to power.

Below is a list of some of the president’s most controversial pardons in 2025.

January 6 defendants

The day he took office, Trump issued a mass pardon to nearly all of his supporters convicted of federal crimes related to the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

Trump said at the time that they were “treated very unfairly” by prosecutors and courts.

Nearly 1,600 people face charges related to the Capitol attack, according to federal data, and the Justice Department has indicted or convicted more than 1,200 of them. Nearly 200 people pleaded guilty to felonies that included assaulting police officers, and more than 200 people were convicted in cases that included assaulting law enforcement officers.

Trump singled out 14 defendants, some of whom had received sentences exceeding ten years, and commuted their sentences rather than pardoning them. Among them were several Oath Keepers and Proud Boys leaders.

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The President also directed the Department of Justice to drop pending cases for all remaining defendants. This massive amnesty action eliminated one of the Justice Department’s largest and most resource-intensive law enforcement operations in history. Lawsuits have been filed throughout the four years of the Biden administration.

Changpeng Zhao

The founder and former CEO of the largest cryptocurrency platform Binance was found guilty of anti-money laundering violations and received a full pardon in October 2025.

The pardon came a week after Donald Trump Jr. introduced a lobbyist for Zhao to Trump on stage at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service.

Critics observed that Binance was empowering the Trump family cryptocurrency company, but a lawyer denied there was any business justification for the pardon and instead told Trump: Wall Street Magazine Zhao was “pardoned in the name of justice.”

george santos

The seven-year prison sentence of the former US representative, who was revealed to be a serial storyteller after running for Congress, was commuted in October 2025.

Santos pleaded guilty to federal fraud and identity theft charges, admitting that he used campaign funds to buy luxury items and pay off credit card debt.

Long Island Republicans, who had previously called for his resignation, reacted angrily to the commutation, with Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-Y., saying it was “not justice” and unfair to the people Santos defrauded.

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Former Representative George Santos arrives in court on Monday, August 19, 2024 in Central Islip, NY. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Trump said Santos, who was an outspoken supporter of the president before receiving the pardon, was mistreated in prison. Trump said Santos “has been held in solitary confinement for a long time and has been horribly mistreated in every way.”

Tim Leiweke

Leiweke, a sports executive, was charged by the Trump Justice Department Antitrust Division with rigging a bid to build an arena at the University of Texas.

The Justice Department accused Leiweke of violating the Sherman Act by diverting the university and taxpayers from a fair bidding process to benefit his own company.

Former Rep. Trey Gowdy, who represented Leiweke, persuaded Trump to pardon his client after playing a round of golf at Mar-a-Lago. Wall Street Magazine was first reported.

Juan Orlando Hernandez

Trump issued a heavily criticized pardon to Hernandez, the former president of Honduras who was convicted in a US federal court on drug trafficking and firearms charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison for helping cocaine traffickers move hundreds of tons of narcotics into the US.

The pardon, which Trump granted in December, freed Hernandez from prison in West Virginia just days before the presidential election in Honduras. Honduras responded by issuing a warrant for Hernandez’s arrest.

Trump claimed that Hernandez was unfairly prosecuted by the Biden administration. Critics observed that Trump was pushing legal boundaries to crack down on drug trafficking, one of his top agenda items, and that releasing Hernandez was counterproductive to that mission.

Chrisley’s

“Chrisley Knows Best” reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley were convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion in 2022 and were both serving prison sentences when Trump pardoned them in May. Trump cited “pretty harsh treatment” as the reason for the leniency.

Their daughter, Savannah, supported Trump at a Republican National Committee meeting ahead of the 2024 election. Her daughter announced in December that she would be stepping into a co-host role on “The View.” Meanwhile, future co-hosts Savannah Chrisley criticized their parents’ pardon as unethical.

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Reality TV star Todd Chrisley speaks as his daughter, Savannah Chrisley, watches at a press conference on Friday, May 30, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (George Walker IV/AP Photo)

Anti-Trump host Joy Behar said, “If you’re a reality star with a lot of money, doing tax evasion, and you’re committing fraud, that’s a good thing. We’ll forgive you.”

Devon Archer

Trump granted a full pardon to Archer, who was convicted in a federal fraud case, in March 2025. Archer was a longtime business partner of Hunter Biden but became an ally of House Republicans as they investigated the Bidens for what they said were corrupt foreign business dealings.

Henry Cuellar and his wife

The Democratic congressman from Texas and his wife were pardoned after the Biden Justice Department brought federal bribery charges against them.

Trump claimed moderate Henry Cuellar, who represents a battleground state in South Texas, was unfairly targeted because he supports more border security than many of his Democratic colleagues. But when Cuellar filed to seek re-election as a Democrat after Trump’s pardon, the president said he was displeased.

“Such a lack of LOYALTY,” Trump wrote on social media. “Oh, well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”

Tina Peters

Trump announced in December that he had pardoned former Mesa County, Colorado elections clerk Tina Peters, who was serving a 9-year state prison sentence for orchestrating a data breach scheme to further claims of fraud related to the 2020 election.

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Trump framed the pardon as support for efforts to “expose voter fraud,” but because convictions are in Colorado state court, legal experts and state officials say the president does not have the authority to pardon state-level convictions and their sentence does not automatically expunge or result in his release.