First-Term Pardons: Rewarding Allies Who Protected Trump from Prosecution
Trump's end-of-term pardons formed a pattern: the beneficiaries were overwhelmingly personal associates, political allies, or people whose silence or loyalty had protected Trump from prosecutorial pressure. Manafort and Stone had both been convicted in Mueller's investigation. Flynn had pleaded guilty twice to lying to the FBI. Bannon was under indictment for fraud. The pardons rewarded loyalty and silence — establishing that cooperation with investigators would not be protected, while non-cooperation would be.
Record summary
Grade
Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern
Systematic actions that undermine fundamental constitutional or international legal protections at the structural level. Scale and definitions
- Status
- Concluded
- Incident date
- Record updated
- Location
- Washington, D.C.
- Category
- Rule of Law
- Legal posture
- Reported
- War-crime classification
- Enabling conduct
- Verification
- Independently verified
- ICC relevance
- No
- Sources
- 5 cited
- Stable ID
first-term-pardons-political-allies- Victims
- Rule of law; victims of crimes committed by pardoned individuals; the public interest in accountability for campaign finance crimes, fraud, and lying to investigators
- Alleged responsible parties
- Donald Trump, President of the United States— White House
Key points
- Paul Manafort — Trump's former campaign chairman, convicted of tax and bank fraud, money laundering, and failing to register as a foreign agent — was pardoned on December 23, 2020, after refusing to fully cooperate with prosecutors
- Roger Stone — Trump's longtime political adviser, convicted of obstruction, witness tampering, and five counts of lying to Congress — had his sentence commuted in July 2020 and was fully pardoned in December 2020; Trump had repeatedly signaled he might pardon Stone
- Michael Flynn — Trump's first National Security Advisor, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russian Ambassador Kislyak — was pardoned on November 25, 2020, before sentencing
- Steve Bannon — Trump's former chief strategist, indicted for fraud for allegedly misappropriating donor funds from the 'We Build the Wall' campaign — was pardoned on January 20, 2021, in the final hours of the administration, before trial
- Charles Kushner — Jared Kushner's father, convicted of tax evasion, witness tampering, and making illegal campaign contributions — was pardoned on December 23, 2020
- The pattern of pardons was widely noted: virtually no pardon went to a cooperating witness; nearly all went to individuals who had refused to cooperate with or had actively obstructed investigators
Overview
The presidential pardon power is near-absolute, but its abuse is a recognized category of corruption. Trump's first-term pardons concentrated overwhelmingly on associates connected to his own legal and political exposure — people convicted in investigations that touched Trump, people who had remained loyal and declined to cooperate with prosecutors, and political allies whose silence had value.
The pattern was visible enough that investigators and legal scholars described it as a potential obstruction scheme: by signaling through pardons that non-cooperation would be rewarded, Trump created an incentive for future witnesses in investigations involving him to refuse cooperation.
The Mueller-Connected Pardons
Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign chairman, was convicted by Robert Mueller's team of 8 counts of tax and bank fraud and entered into a cooperation agreement before breaching it. Mueller's team alleged Manafort shared internal polling data with a Russian intelligence operative during the 2016 campaign. He received a full pardon.
Roger Stone was found guilty of obstruction, five counts of lying to Congress, and witness tampering — including threats against a potential witness. Stone had communicated with WikiLeaks during the campaign about stolen Democratic emails. He received a sentence commutation followed by a full pardon.
Michael Flynn admitted twice to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December 2016 — conversations in which Flynn discussed sanctions relief for Russia before Trump was inaugurated. Flynn received a pardon before sentencing.
The Bannon Pardon
The Bannon pardon was perhaps the most brazen. Bannon was facing trial — not convicted — for allegedly defrauding donors who gave money to a privately-run "We Build the Wall" campaign based on representations that no money would go to organizers. Federal prosecutors alleged Bannon took over $1 million from the fund for personal expenses. A pardon in the final hours of the administration prevented the truth from being established at trial and denied victims any path to restitution through the federal process.
What the Pattern Showed
Legal analysts noted what the pardons shared: nearly every recipient had either refused to cooperate with investigators, had been convicted in investigations touching Trump, or was a political ally. Cooperating witnesses who provided testimony against Trump associates — people like Michael Cohen, Rick Gates, and George Papadopoulos — received no pardons despite serving prison time.
The message was structural: cooperating with investigators comes at personal cost; refusing cooperation comes with presidential protection.
International law engaged
| Instrument | Provision | What it protects or prohibits |
|---|---|---|
| UN Convention Against Corruption | Article 18 | Trading in influence — pardons conditioned on witness non-cooperation constitute obstruction and corruption of the justice system |
Update log
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Updated with final day pardons including Bannon.
Sequence of events
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Roger Stone sentence commuted
Trump commutes Roger Stone's 40-month sentence — imposed for obstruction, witness tampering, and lying to Congress — days before Stone was to report to prison. Prosecutors who handled the case resign in protest after political interference in sentencing recommendations.
-
Michael Flynn pardoned
Trump pardons Michael Flynn — his former National Security Advisor, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russian Ambassador Kislyak regarding sanctions. Flynn had sought to withdraw his guilty plea and the Justice Department under AG Barr had controversially moved to drop the charges, but a federal judge refused; the pardon mooted the matter.
-
Manafort, Stone, Kushner, others pardoned
Trump issues a sweeping set of pardons including Paul Manafort (convicted of tax fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, foreign agent violations), Roger Stone (fully pardoned after sentence commutation), Charles Kushner (tax evasion, witness tampering), and 26 others including two former Republican congressman convicted of corruption.
-
Steve Bannon pardoned on last day
In the final hours of his term, Trump pardons Steve Bannon, who was under federal indictment for allegedly defrauding donors to the 'We Build the Wall' crowdfunding campaign by misappropriating funds for personal expenses. The pardon prevents trial and means no verdict on the merits. New York state charges, which a federal pardon cannot touch, are later pursued.
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Elliott Broidy and others pardoned
Trump also pardons Elliott Broidy, a Republican fundraiser who pleaded guilty to acting as an unregistered foreign agent for lobbying on behalf of foreign governments' interests; and Kwame Kilpatrick, the former Mayor of Detroit who was serving 28 years for corruption. The breadth of the pardons extends beyond obvious political allies to include Republican-connected figures with unrelated convictions.
Sources
- Trump Pardons Flynn, Manafort and Others in Final Weeks of Term — The New York Times
- Trump pardons Manafort, Stone, and 26 others — The Washington Post
- Trump Pardons Steve Bannon in Rush of Last-Minute Clemency — The New York Times
- Trump Pardons Michael Flynn — The New York Times
- Trump's Pardon Binge: The Power and Its Corruption — Just Security archived ✓