Trump has let allies and supporters avoid centuries of prison time
We got a clear glimpse of what a second Donald Trump presidency would look like on the second night of last year's Republican National Convention.
The theme of the evening was 'Make America Safe Again,' meaning that the endless parade of speakers included law enforcement officials and various elected Republicans bemoaning the rate of crime under then-President Joe Biden.
And then there was Savannah Chrisley, scion of a mid-tier reality-television family. She wasn't there to reinforce the point made shortly before by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), that Republicans 'always will be the advocates for the rule of law.' Instead, Chrisley was there to suggest that the convictions of her parents, Todd and Julie Chrisley, were unfair and political — just like the criminal charges targeting Trump himself. Chrisley noted that her parents had even been referred to as the 'Trumps of the South.'
You will therefore not be surprised to learn that, on Tuesday, now-President Donald Trump informed Chrisley that he was going to offer her parents a full pardon.
'They were given a pretty harsh treatment, based on what I'm hearing,' Trump said in a phone call with Chrisley and her brother. 'Pretty harsh treatment.'
That same day, the New York Times provided new details on another of Trump's recent pardons. Paul Walczak was sentenced to 18 months in prison for tax-related crimes. After his mother paid $1 million to attend a fundraising dinner, though, Walczak's record was wiped clean.
A review of Trump's pardons and commutations since retaking office in January shows a consistent pattern: His grants of clemency have often benefited supporters and allies, usually ones who were convicted or sentenced during the Biden administration. That includes almost all of the more than 1,500 people charged related to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Often, Trump's actions have cleared individuals' criminal records after the recipients had already served time or had otherwise fulfilled the obligations of their convictions. My analysis of Trump's actions, though, suggests that more than 230 individuals avoided sentenced prison time thanks to Trump's intervention. More than 200 of them were individuals who'd been sentenced after participating in the Capitol riot.
Comparing their original sentences with the dates of sentencing and clemency, I calculate that Trump has wiped away more than 700 years of prison time that convicted individuals were otherwise slated to serve. That includes more than 600 years of prison time to which Jan. 6 rioters had been sentenced — including a number of the most violent actors and individuals affiliated with extreme right-wing groups.
Included among the 15 individuals who, according to my calculations, avoided the most prison time after a grant of clemency:
Because presidential pardon power (unlike most federal powers) is essentially absolute, presidents have historically gone out of their way to avoid any appearance that they are leveraging that power on behalf of allies or donors. Scandal emerged when, on his last day in office, Bill Clinton pardoned Marc Rich, given fundraising efforts undertaken by Rich's ex-wife. George W. Bush hastily revoked an issued pardon when past (modest) donations to Republicans came to light.
None of this seems to give pause to Trump and his team. Savannah Chrisley's appearance at the convention goes far beyond what Bush was concerned about. Walczak's pardon specifically referenced his mother's support for Trump — suggesting that the support was the reason for the criminal charges in the first place.
As with Chrisley at the convention, Trump has often framed his actions as being responsive to overreach that occurred under the Biden administration. Ed Martin, tapped to serve as pardon attorney after his nomination to serve as U.S. attorney collapsed, appeared to celebrate the pardoning of a pro-Trump sheriff on social media.
'No MAGA left behind,' Martin wrote — suggesting that the standard being applied to pardons came down to support for the president. The Jan. 6 cases, of course, are the most obvious example.
Trump also appears to be motivated by the types of crimes that yielded these convictions. Many clemency recipients who weren't involved in the Capitol riot were convicted of financial crimes — the sorts of things that Trump himself has avoided over the years. At an Oval Office ceremony during which former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro was sworn in as interim U.S. attorney (for the seat Martin had hoped to fill), Trump praised her background as a prosecutor.
'She went after real criminals,' Trump said, 'not fake criminals like we seem to do today nowadays. People that shouldn't be prosecuted.'
Soon after getting the call from Trump, Savannah Chrisley spoke to NewsNation host Leland Vittert.
'I have said from the very beginning, I believe in law and order,' Chrisley insisted. It was just that in this case, with her parents, the outcome wasn't deserved. And that's what the president told her on the call.
'He just said that their sentences were outrageous,' she said, 'and they were treated unfairly from everyone that he has spoken to.'
Thanks to her convention role, of course, Trump's team already had her phone number.
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