A constitutional power designed by Alexander Hamilton to inspire caution has become a mechanism for erasing criminal consequences on an unprecedented scale. Since taking office in January 2025, Donald Trump has granted executive clemency to more than 1,800 individuals, wiping away an estimated $1.3 billion in court-ordered restitution and fines owed to victims and taxpayers, according to a staff analysis by Rep. Jamie Raskin of the House Judiciary Committee.
The scope ranges from violent insurrectionists to convicted drug lords. Among those pardoned: former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving 45 years for facilitating the transport of 400 tons of cocaine into the United States, and Garnett Gilbert Smith, whom the DEA identified as one of Baltimore’s largest cocaine and heroin dealers, responsible for moving more than 1,000 kilograms of cocaine in under two years. Trump issued Hernández’s pardon in November 2025 after ally Roger Stone contacted him directly.
Corporate fraudsters have also benefited handsomely. Trevor Milton, founder of electric truck startup Nikola, received a full pardon in March 2025 despite owing roughly $675 million in restitution to defrauded shareholders. Milton and his wife had donated more than $1.8 million to a Trump re-election fund before the November election, and his restitution was wiped out entirely. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering failures that enabled terrorist financing and child abuse material transactions, also walked away with a full pardon — raising questions about his business relationship with World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture.
More than half of Trump’s pardons have gone to individuals convicted of money laundering, bank fraud, or wire fraud. Half the recipients have been business executives or politicians. Lobbyists told The Wall Street Journal that fees of $1 million are now standard for pardon lobbying, with some clients offering success fees as high as $6 million.
Trump’s first day in office established the pattern. On January 20, 2025, he issued a blanket pardon covering approximately 1,500 people charged or convicted in connection with the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. The mass clemency covered everyone from seditious conspiracy convicts to those who assaulted police officers. Defense attorneys immediately began arguing the pardons applied to related state charges, creating ongoing legal confusion.
Also on day one, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, creator of the Silk Road dark web marketplace. Ulbricht had been serving two life sentences plus 40 years for operating an underground platform that facilitated more than $183 million in drug sales and was linked to at least six overdose deaths. The pardon eliminated roughly $183 million in restitution and fines.
The financial toll on victims has been severe. Jason Galanis, sentenced to 15 years for defrauding the Oglala Sioux Nation of $60 million, saw his $84.4 million restitution obligation disappear. Paul Walczak, who stole $4.4 million from employee paychecks, received a pardon erasing both his prison sentence and restitution — weeks after his mother donated $1 million to a Trump fundraiser.
In The Federalist Papers: No. 74 (The Command of the Military and Naval Forces, and the Pardoning Power of the Executive), Alexander Hamilton, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 under the presidency of George Washington, argued that vesting pardon authority in one person would “naturally inspire scrupulousness and caution.” He believed no leader would be shameless enough to abuse such a grave responsibility, envisioning pardons as instruments of mercy for cases of “unfortunate guilt.”
That assumption has been dubbed “Hamilton’s Folly” by modern scholars — a philosophical miscalculation based on 18th-century faith in presidential character. The Constitution provides virtually no constraints on the pardon power. Impeachment would require a two-thirds Senate majority that has never been achieved. The Supreme Court lacks original jurisdiction over pardons.
Rep. Don Bacon became the first House Republican to cosponsor the Pardon Integrity Act in February 2026, a proposed constitutional amendment granting Congress power to block presidential pardons. “It is clear to me the pardon authority has been abused,” Bacon said. Rep. Steve Cohen has introduced a separate amendment that would prohibit self-pardons and pardons for crimes directly benefiting the president.
But constitutional amendments require two-thirds majorities in both chambers plus ratification by 38 states — an almost insurmountable hurdle in today’s political climate. The pardon power remains what it has always been: stunningly unfettered, relying entirely on the integrity of whoever occupies the presidency. Hamilton’s wager on presidential virtue looks increasingly unwise.
