President Donald Trump has begun his second term version A “full, complete and unconditional” pardon for approximately 1,500 individuals involved in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

He also commuted the sentences of 14 Proud Boys and Oath Keepers members who were convicted or charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the violence.

The next day, Trump announced that he had pardoned him Ross Ulbrichtfounder of Silk Road, a marketplace on the dark web, who was jailed in connection with selling illegal drugs on the platform.

How do presidents compare in the number of clemencies they granted? Al Jazeera depicts presidential pardons in modern history, including some of the most controversial:

What is a presidential pardon?

Article II of the United States Constitution gives the sitting president the power to pardon individuals for federal crimes, relieving them from further punishment or other legal consequences. However, it does not apply to impeachment.

The pardon is final once it is issued. The president may not revoke or cancel a pardon issued by a previous president.

A pardon may be issued before formal charges are brought and after conviction. However, it cannot be applied to future crimes that someone has not yet committed.

There are different works of mercy, such as:

• Sorry – Granting full pardon for conviction
• mitigation – Reducing the sentence to a lower one
• delay – Delaying punishment
• forgiveness – Reducing the impact of the sentence without changing its nature
• pardon – Granting amnesty to include a whole group of individuals

Who is the president who granted the most pardons?

George Washington issued the first presidential pardon in 1795 to the leaders of the Whiskey Rebellion, a violent protest against taxes.

In modern history, the 14 US presidents since 1945 have together issued more than 9,000 presidential pardons and 6,500 commutations.

In this 80-year period, Harry Truman, who served as president from 1945 to 1953, issued the most pardons — 1,913 — followed by Trump, who has issued at least 1,644 pardons in both of his terms so far. Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961) issued the third largest number of pardons with 1,110.

Joe Biden issued the most commutations with 4,169, followed by Barack Obama with 1,715. Other presidents since 1945 trail behind Obama and Biden, with Lyndon Johnson issuing third during his 1963-1969 term when he approved 226 commutations.

Trump compared to Biden

During his four years in office (2021-2025), Biden granted at least 80 pardons and 4,169 commutations. By comparison, Trump issued 144 pardons and 94 commutations during his first term (2017-2021).

Although Trump’s second term was only a few days long, he has already issued 1,500 pardons and more than a dozen commutations.

Trump has pardoned people who had personal or political ties to him, including his supporters. In his first term, this included individuals involved in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, which examined Russian interference in the 2016 US election, ties between Trump associates and Russian officials, and potential obstruction of justice by Trump and his associates.

Among them are convicts Paul ManafortTrump campaign chairman; Michael Flynnhis former national security advisor; Roger Stonepolitical advisor; and George Papadopouloscampaign advisor.

Trump granted pardons and commuted sentences to a number of those involved. Papadopoulos was pardoned in 2018 and Flynn in November 2020. Stone’s sentence was commuted in July 2020, and he was granted a full pardon in December 2020 along with Manafort.

In his final hours in office in 2021, Trump issued a pardon Steve Bannonwho was charged with fraud in connection with a fundraising campaign for Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Trump also granted clemency to rappers Lil Wayne and Kodak Black. The first was convicted of carrying a gun on board his private plane in December 2019 and was granted a pardon. Black was sentenced to four years in prison in 2019 for making false statements about carrying a gun. His sentence was later commuted.

Many of Biden’s pardons have been for nonviolent drug offenders, including nearly 2,500 pardons on Friday — the most in a single day, excluding Jimmy Carter. He also pardoned several members of his family, saying the measures were to protect them from politically motivated investigations by the Trump administration.

On his final day as president, Biden pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a prominent figure during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been widely criticized by political opponents, including Trump, for his stance on the outbreak. Biden said Fauci’s pardon is also intended to protect him from potential prosecution under the Trump administration.

Biden also commuted the sentence of Native American activist Leonard Peltier, who spent nearly half a century behind bars after being imprisoned in 1975 for the murders of two FBI agents.

Controversial presidential pardon

Here are some of the most controversial acts of clemency granted by US presidents over the past 50 years:

1974: Gerald Ford pardons Richard Nixon

On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford pardoned former President Richard Nixon for any crimes he committed during his presidency, especially those related to the Watergate scandal.

Ford considered it a necessary step to move the country beyond Watergate. However, the pardon was cited as a major reason for Ford’s loss in the 1976 election. Many felt that the pardon amounted to a continuation of the Watergate cover-up by preventing the potential indictment of the former president, who resigned before he could be impeached.

1977: Jimmy Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders

When Jimmy Carter was inaugurated in 1977, he pardoned those who had evaded the draft in the Vietnam War on his first day in office, less than two years after the end of the war.

As public sentiment against the Vietnam War grew, many young men tried to avoid the draft. The amnesty faced criticism from veterans and conservative politicians who served in Vietnam, while others such as the US Veterans Committee praised the order but said it should have included deserters as well.

2017: Barack Obama commutes Chelsea Manning’s sentence

Chelsea Manning, an Army intelligence analyst, was convicted in 2010 of leaking classified government documents to WikiLeaks, which revealed US military and diplomatic activities around the world. Manning was serving a 35-year prison sentence, but it was commuted after seven years by Obama.

Pardoning Family Members – Clinton, Trump, and Biden

On his last day in office in 2001, Bill Clinton pardoned his half-brother, Roger Clinton Jr., who had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine after being caught trying to sell it to an undercover police officer in the 1980s. Clinton’s pardon cleared Roger’s criminal record.

In 2020, Trump pardoned the father of his son-in-law, Charles Kushner, who was serving two terms in prison for tax evasion.

In 2024, Biden pardoned his son Hunter despite previously saying he would not do so. Hunter was facing sentencing in two criminal cases. In September, he pleaded guilty to tax evasion, and in June he was convicted of drug use and gun possession. He became the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of a crime.