US presidential pardons: a potted history of a shabby convention
Donald Trump is hardly unique in his controversial use of presidential pardons, which have been a sometimes sordid feature of US politics for well over two centuries.
In his final hours in office, Trump is expected to pardon more than 100 people, including political allies, friends and cronies. He has already granted clemency to principal figures from his 2016 campaign.
In seeking to promote his self-interest, Trump is merely following in the footsteps of White House predecessors. Under article two of the US constitution, presidents enjoy broad and unchallengeable powers to pardon individuals for federal crimes. This right is “without limit”, the supreme court has ruled.
The exercise of this prerogative has long been a source of argument. In 1795 George Washington amnestied two men who had masterminded the Whiskey Rebellion against a federal tax on alcohol. In the 20th century, Gerald Ford pardoned a disgraced Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal.
Ford’s successor, Jimmy Carter, pardoned Vietnam war draft resisters.
And in 1992, George HW Bush extended an amnesty to six defendants in the Reagan-era Iran-contra scandal, including the former defence secretary Caspar Weinberger, a move that in effect shut down the investigation.
Meanwhile, Bill Clinton was responsible for a particularly egregious pardon. On 20 January 2001 he exonerated the billionaire fugitive Marc Rich, one of 140 pardons issued on his last day in the White House, including one given by Clinton to his brother Roger.
The move provoked outrage. Rich, a commodities trader, had spent decades on the run from US justice, hiding out in Switzerland. The justice department had sought to put Rich on trial for evading more than $48m [£33m] in taxes, as well as fraud and participating in illegal oil deals with Iran.
Clinton denied the pardon had anything to do with generous donations Rich had made to the Democratic party and to his presidential library. In a pained article for the New York Times, Clinton said Rich got clemency for his contribution to the Israeli peace process and for his secret work with Mossad.
Subsequently Clinton admitted the Rich episode had damaged his reputation. He was keen to point out that other presidents had issued more pardons during their time in the White House. Carter clocked in at 566 to Clinton’s 450, with Reagan coming in at 406 over two terms. Ford managed 409 during just over two years as president.
Trump has yet to reach these kinds of numbers, though his decisions have come under similar criticism. He has been pardoning individuals since his first year in office. They include Joe Arpaio, a former Arizona sheriff. Arpaio was convicted of contempt of court for defying a judge’s order to stop racially profiling Latinos.
In December, close political allies who were caught up in the investigation by special prosecutor Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election received clemency. They included Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who lied to the FBI, ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and Trump’s long-time confidant and fixer Roger Stone. Plus Charles Kushner, the convicted father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared.
Trump’s behaviour in office has so often been transgressive and abrasive. But when it comes to presidential pardons he is merely following the existing shabby convention.