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The president is increasingly using his clemency powers to undermine Justice Department cases against his supporters.
May 28, 2025Updated 7:22 p.m. ET
When they pleaded guilty, the three men took responsibility for crimes.
Brian Kelsey acknowledged his involvement in an illegal campaign cash scheme. Paul Walczak expressed “so much shame” for his tax fraud. Daniel Rodriguez wrote a letter to “apologize from the heart” to a police officer he assaulted with a stun gun.
But when they or their allies pushed for pardons from President Trump, they argued that they — like him — had been unfairly targeted by prosecutors because of their politics.
It is an argument that has resonated with Mr. Trump, who issued full and unconditional pardons to all three of the men, as well as hundreds of other supporters convicted of an array of crimes.
About four months into his second stint in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump has redefined the exercise of presidential clemency.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump announced a raft of pardons, which wipe away convictions, and commutations, which cut sentences short. Not all had obvious political ties. Recipients included a rapper who was sentenced to nearly two years in prison in a federal gun case and the co-founder of a Chicago gang who was serving multiple life sentences for crimes including murder.
But several beneficiaries had ties to Mr. Trump or to conservative groups, including Michael G. Grimm, a former Republican representative from Staten Island who served seven months in prison for tax fraud a decade ago.
