Topline
President Donald Trump’s pardons and commutations have cost more than $100 million in fines owed to the federal government and another $1.5 billion in restitution to victims.
President Donald Trump, accompanied by White House staff secretary Will Scharf (L), and Commerce ... More
Trump has pardoned or commuted the sentences of 16 people or companies whose sentences included fines ranging from $50 to $100,000,000 and total $102,647,458, according to a Justice Department list, though the figure is likely even higher as the DOJ list omits some previously reported fines and restitution payments.
Meanwhile, Trump has granted clemencies and commutations to people who owe more than $1.3 billion in restitution money, combined, to victims of white collar crime, according to the former U.S. pardon attorney Liz Oyer, who tallied the money using court records.
Fines are paid to the Treasury Department, while restitution is paid to crime victims.
Oyer’s tally does not include $2.6 million in restitution payments the 1,270 pardoned Jan. 6 defendants owed, according to a report by House Democrats.
Trump issued the pardons at the same time his administration has lamented the size of the federal government’s debt.
The people included in Oyer’s tally include Nikola founder and Trump donor Trevor Milton, who owed nearly $680 million in restitution to Nikoka shareholders; Todd and Julie Chrisley, reality TV stars convicted of bank and wire fraud who were ordered to pay more than $22 million in restitution combined; and Paul Walczak, who was convicted of tax crimes and owed $4.4 million in restitution before he was pardoned by Trump after his mother attended a $1 million-per-person fundraising dinner for the president.
It’s unclear how much of the fines had already been paid to the federal government at the time of the pardons and commutations. Money already paid would not be refunded to those who received clemencies.
- That’s the total number of pardons and commutations Trump has issued this year, according to the DOJ, not counting Jan. 6 defendants.
Former President Joe Biden granted 4,245 acts of clemency during his time in office, more than any other president in history, according to Pew Research Center.
The Justice Department and some Jan. 6 defendants have argued they should be reimbursed for the fines and restitution they already paid. At least one federal judge, Randolph Moss, ruled recently against a refund request, writing that “once a conviction has been 'established by judicial proceedings,' any penalties imposed are 'presumed to have been rightfully done and justly suffered,' regardless of whether the defendant later receives a pardon," Law & Crime reported.
Trump has made a multitude of controversial pardons since taking office, many for people he claims were politically persecuted by the Biden administration or those who align with him politically. He pardoned the Chrisleys, for example, after their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, spoke at the Republican National Convention and fiercely advocated for the pardons. Devon Archer and Jason Galanis, both convicted of defrauding Native Americans, were pardoned after they testified in the Republican impeachment inquiry against Biden.
Pardon Applications Are Being Carefully Crafted With One Man In Mind: Donald Trump (Associated Press)
Former FBI Agent Pardoned By Trump For Jan. 6 Charges Now Serving In Justice Department: Sources (ABC News)
Trump Pardons Drug Kingpins Even As He Escalates U.S. Drug War Rhetoric (NPR)