Friend,
Donald Trump just used the pardon power exactly the way he’s always threatened to.
According to the Associated Press, earlier this week Trump issued sweeping “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons to Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark and others who helped him fuel the effort to overturn the 2020 election. These are the people who pushed lies, pressured officials and schemed to block the peaceful transfer of power.[1]
Trump didn’t show mercy. He delivered rewards for their loyalty.
This is exactly why Congress must pass the Protect Our Democracy Act, which would prevent presidents from using pardons to shield their friends, allies or themselves.
And the AP’s reporting lines up with something even more troubling. A new ProPublica investigation reveals that Trump has turned clemency into a privilege for insiders. Out of nearly sixteen hundred people he has pardoned in his second term, only ten used the official Department of Justice process.[2]
Everyone else gained access through personal connections, political loyalty or proximity to Trump’s inner circle.
Meanwhile more than ten thousand ordinary applicants – people who followed every rule, including veterans and workers with decades-old convictions – are stuck waiting. Their cases don’t move because Trump has abandoned the system entirely.
Instead of fixing a broken clemency process, Trump built a pipeline for donors, loyalists and culture-war figures. He erased huge penalties for allies convicted of corruption and financial crimes. He slashed George Santos’ sentence after a few months. He pardoned nearly fifteen hundred people convicted for their roles on January 6.
This isn’t justice. It’s favoritism dressed up as presidential power.
This is the moment Congress must act. The Protect Our Democracy Act would finally put guardrails around a power Trump has already shown he’s willing to abuse.
And now there’s a dangerous new development. Politico reports that Ghislaine Maxwell – convicted for her role in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation – is preparing a formal request for Trump to reduce her twenty-year sentence. Internal documents suggest she’s already receiving unusual treatment while her application is being assembled, including access and privileges unheard of for people in federal custody for crimes as serious as hers.[3]
Maxwell has been openly praising Trump in interviews with senior officials. Trump has refused to rule out clemency. And this potential commutation raises urgent questions about what Trump is willing to do for someone with direct ties to a scandal he has spent years trying to keep at arm’s length.
The pardon power was created to correct injustice – not bury it. And not weaponize it for a president’s inner circle.
Trump has already shown us exactly how far he’s willing to go to protect himself and the people around him. We can’t afford to wait for the next pardon or the next political favor to see the damage continue. This is our moment to draw a clear line and demand real safeguards for our democracy.
Thank you for your advocacy,
People For the American Way
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Sources:
[1] "Trump pardons Rudy Giuliani and others who backed efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss" AP News, 11/10/25
[2] "How Trump Has Exploited Pardons and Clemency to Reward Allies and Supporters" ProPublica, 11/12/25
[3] "Ghislaine Maxwell to seek commutation, document indicates" POLITICO, 11/10/25
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