A Chinese crypto kingpin, a libertarian cyber hero, and a Honduran drug lord all benefitted from Trump’s largesse this year.
President Donald Trump played fast and loose with the presidential pardon power in 2025 — granting clemency to convicted fraudsters, drug traffickers, supporters convicted of assaulting police officers, and other individuals convicted of serious crimes.
Trump’s seemingly arbitrary use of the pardon power and willingness to lean on the Department of Justice have been a gift to numerous politically connected high-profile criminals. The possibility of a Trump pardon has even turned into a lucrative industry for MAGA-linked lobbyists, as the Wall Street Journal reports. Multiple pardon beneficiaries received Trump’s assistance after donations to Trump-linked PACs and others have subsequently faced criminal proceedings.
The sheer pace of Trump’s pardon announcements has made it difficult to digest each individual decision and the dynamics behind it. That’s why NR has put together a list of the top five head-scratchers.
Representative Henry Cuellar (D., Texas)
Earlier this month, President Trump pardoned a political opponent accused of taking roughly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijani oil company and a Mexican bank. Like Trump, Cuellar faced federal prosecution from the Biden Justice Department.
When announcing Cuellar’s pardon, Trump claimed the Biden administration went after the moderate Democrat for criticizing the previous administration’s lax approach to illegal immigration. He also shared a letter from Cuellar’s daughters suggesting Cuellar’s criticism of the Biden administration influenced the corruption case.
Days later, Trump took a different tone toward a man he saved from a potentially lengthy prison sentence. Once Cuellar announced he would run for reelection as a Democrat, Trump raged at him for being disloyal following the pardon.
“Only a short time after signing the Pardon, Congressman Henry Cuellar announced that he will be ‘running’ for Congress again, in the Great State of Texas (a State where I received the highest number of votes ever recorded!), as a Democrat, continuing to work with the same Radical Left Scum that just weeks before wanted him and his wife to spend the rest of their lives in Prison – And probably still do! Such a lack of LOYALTY, something that Texas Voters, and Henry’s daughters, will not like. Oh well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Trump’s pardon complicates the GOP’s effort to win Cuellar’s hotly contested congressional seat in south Texas. Cuellar has said he remains a conservative Democrat willing to work with the Trump administration.
Ross Ulbricht
On the second day of his presidency, Trump pardoned online black market operator Ross Ulbricht, fulfilling a promise he made at the Libertarian National Convention last year. Ulbricht served a dozen years of a lifetime prison sentence for founding and operating Silk Road, an online illegal drug marketplace where transactions were paid for with cryptocurrency. He unsuccessfully appealed the sentence and failed to have his case heard by the Supreme Court.
A libertarian folk hero, some observers thought Ulbricht’s punishment was too harsh. Ulbricht’s mother and wife were among the activists who spent years campaigning for his freedom before Trump pardoned him. The pardon came after Trump curried favor with libertarians and the cryptocurrency community during the 2024 presidential campaign.
Changpeng Zhao
The October pardon of Zhao, who founded Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, was widely criticized because of Binance’s ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture linked to the Trump family. Zhao spent four months in prison last year for charges related to Binance’s failure to comply with anti–money laundering requirements. Separately, Binance pleaded guilty in 2023 to violating anti–money laundering requirements and faced a record $4.3 billion fine from the Biden Justice Department. The Biden administration also placed strict oversight requirements on Binance after accusing it of allowing itself to become a hub for sanctioned individuals and criminal organizations to conduct transactions.
Binance spent $800,000 on lobbyists in pursuit of the pardon and other policy goals, the Journal reported, citing federal records. According to the Journal, Binance hired MAGA-linked lobbyist Ches McDowell to push for the pardon. The outlet previously reported that Binance began reaching out to Trumpworld allies last year to potentially facilitate a deal for a stake in its U.S. operation.
A lawyer for World Liberty Financial told the Journal the firm “did not discuss, facilitate or influence,” Zhao’s pardon. He also said Donald Trump Jr. and his brother are not involved with the company’s day-to-day management. Zhao’s lawyer said the pardon was not linked to any business decisions. A Binance representative told the outlet it had “limited involvement” with World Liberty Financial’s products.
Likewise, in November Binance CEO Richard Teng denied promoting World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar. Abu Dhabi’s state-owned investment firm MGX used USD1, a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, for a $2 billion investment in Binance, a major boost to the stablecoin’s legitimacy.
Juan Orlando Hernandez
The Trump administration has made its fight against drug trafficking central to its foreign policy in Latin America and its effort to combat illegal immigration. So it came as a surprise to many when President Trump pardoned Hernandez, a former president of Honduras and a convicted drug trafficker sentenced to 45 years in prison in 2024.
Hernandez was convicted for playing a central role in a prolific cocaine smuggling operation for the better part of two decades and using drug money to fuel his ascent to the top of Honduran politics. He used his political authority to facilitate mass cocaine trafficking into the U.S. and protect the drug traffickers in his inner circle, including his brother Tony, also a convicted drug trafficker. He has also been accused of taking bribes from the infamous Mexican drug kingpin known as “El Chapo” during a political campaign.
Hernandez was pardoned after Trump received a complimentary letter from him, delivered by longtime Trump ally Roger Stone, Reuters reported. The White House insists that Trump made the decision to pardon Hernandez before reading the letter.
The Trump administration defended Hernandez’s pardon by accusing the Biden administration of over-prosecuting a political opponent of Honduran leftists. The White House assured critics it remained committed to taking on drug traffickers pushing drugs into the U.S.
January 6 Capitol Rioters
On the first day of his presidency, Trump pardoned 1,500 people prosecuted for their roles in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The pardons included hundreds of defendants accused of assaulting and resisting or impeding police. Roughly 900 of the Capitol rioters were convicted on misdemeanors for non-violent trespassing at the U.S. Capitol and other activities. In addition, Trump commuted the sentences of 14 other defendants whose cases he believes needed further investigation.
The mass pardons for Capitol rioters also fulfilled a campaign promise for Trump, who promised to pardon the rioters immediately upon assuming office. Trump’s false claims about the 2020 presidential election results helped spur the riot to begin with, marking a low point in his political career.
Throughout the Biden administration, MAGA activists and internet personalities regularly claimed the January 6 defendants were being unfairly treated in prison. Similarly, Trump likened the January 6 defendants to “hostages” and regularly spoke about them on the 2024 campaign trail. Trump’s sympathy for the Capitol rioters was evident from the very the start of his 2024 campaign. His first official rally of the campaign started with a song by a choir of January 6 prisoners that features a recording of Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
On a related note, Trump pardoned numerous political allies responsible for helping him attempt to overturn the 2020 election results. The measure was largely symbolic because the individuals have not been federally charged. Many of them faced state-level charges in the locations where they contested the 2020 results based on false claims of election fraud.
Trump’s freewheeling use of the presidential pardon power appears to be deeply influenced by the Biden Justice Department’s prosecutions against him. Many conservatives have also pointed to former President Biden’s sweeping pardon of troubled son Hunter in December 2024 as a precursor to further abuses of the pardon authority.