Pardons: January 6, donors and allies

The January 6 order commuted 14 sentences, among them Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, and pardoned everyone else convicted, including Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio. It also told the Justice Department to drop pending cases. AP found that people convicted of assaulting police were among those pardoned. [1][2][4]

Other grants went to political allies and people with business ties. The Justice Department’s pardon register lists Zhao, who had served four months for failing to keep an adequate anti-money-laundering program at Binance, and a commutation for Santos, who had pleaded guilty to fraud and identity theft. [3]

Every president pardons friends; Clinton pardoned Marc Rich and Biden pardoned his son. The scale and the political tilt are what is different here. Critics call it rewarding loyalty. Supporters say it corrects prosecutions they view as political.

Binance helped build the market for USD1, the stablecoin of World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto venture; an Abu Dhabi fund used USD1 for a $2 billion investment in Binance. Democrats raised conflict questions before Zhao’s October 2025 pardon. A business relationship before a pardon is a fair reason to ask questions. It is not, by itself, evidence of a deal. [1][2]

In December 2025 Trump declared void any Biden pardon or order signed by autopen, claiming Biden did not approve them. No court has accepted that a president can revoke a predecessor’s completed pardon, and the Constitution sets no signature requirement. The Justice Department shelved an investigation into Biden’s autopen use in March 2026 without charges. The Biden-family file on this site covers it in detail. [3]