Selling Pardons Is Un-American: Trump’s Admin vs. the Constitution

Article II, Section 2 gives the president power to grant reprieves and pardons for federal offenses. Courts have not limited that power by motive, and I am not claiming your grants are unlawful. I am writing about how your administration uses it and what the record shows. In June, Reuters reviewed clemency decisions since January 2025 and interviewed 80+ people. It identified 290 "influencers"—including lobbyists and 110 known Trump allies—advocating for 197 recipients, with intermediaries commanding up to $2 million per successful bid. CBS News reported in September that most cases bypassed the Pardon Attorney for personal White House appeals. The record includes: - Trevor Milton and his wife donated $1.8 million to committees supporting you and RFK Jr. in 2024. Weeks before a judge ordered $675 million in restitution to defrauded Nikola shareholders, you pardoned him, erasing his sentence and restitution. Milton says the donations were unrelated. - Paul Walczak owed $4.4 million in restitution for stealing employee tax payments. Three weeks after his mother attended a $1 million-per-person Mar-a-Lago fundraiser, you pardoned him; his application highlighted the donation. - Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was pardoned in October 2025 while his firm had ties to a crypto venture linked to your family. - You pardoned, commuted, or dismissed cases for 1,500+ people charged in the January 6 attack, including those convicted of assaulting police and seditious conspiracy. House Judiciary Democrats estimate pardons have erased nearly $1.7 billion in restitution, fines, and forfeitures owed to victims and taxpayers. Separately, your Justice Department barred the IRS from auditing returns filed before the settlement of your $10 billion lawsuit covering you, your family, and your businesses. A federal judge found the settlement collusive and brought in bad faith.  Because the legal power rests with you, disclosure is the only public check. I ask you to: 1. Publish the Pardon Attorney’s review for grants to donors, partners, or paid advocates, or state none occurred. 2. Disclose who lobbied for each grant and what they were paid. 3. Condition future fraud pardons on repaying victim restitution. 4. Affirm publicly that no clemency is granted for donations or business dealings. The public has a right to know who bought access and what they paid.