How Donald Trump could pardon himself and MAGA 'criminals' in his second term

Donald Trump is mulling pardons for some of his top MAGA allies and fiercest defenders once he is sworn into office.

And he could even pardon himself in the two federal cases against him. 

President Joe Biden announced a pardon for troubled son Hunter, 54, over felony gun and tax charges, setting a new precedent for the sweeping pardon power.

And he also commuted the sentences of roughly 1,500 people earlier this month and handed out 39 pardons. It was the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history.

On Monday, he was criticized for commuting the death sentences of 37 out of 40 federal death row inmates.

Now, Democrats are increasingly concerned that Trump will use Biden's sweeping pardons as an excuse to use the powers more liberally in his second term.

Trump suggested immediately after Hunter's pardon that he would seek the same leniency for jailed Capitol rioters - and later confirmed it as a priority to free them.

This raises the question of who else might be on Trump's list to receive a pardon.

Some speculate that he could use the powers to issue pardons for his own children. Others think that he could use it for himself and his top allies.

Here is a look at which notorious criminals Trump could move to pardon in his next four years.

January 6 prisoners

Trump said on his first day back at the White House, he plans to issue pardons for all January 6 defendants whose actions were meant to show displeasure with the results and running of the 2020 presidential elections.

The promise from Trump means at least 500 people could see their prison sentences ended on the very first day of his second term.

The president-elect said it's a high priority for him to get those who rioted at the Capitol in 2021 out of where they are being held because they have been there for years while he ran for a second term.

'I'm going to be acting very quickly,' Trump told NBC News in his first post-victory interview aired December 8 on Meet the Press. 'I'm looking first day.'

'These people have been there, how long is it? Three, four years,' Trump lamented.

'They've been in there for years. And they're in a filthy, disgusting place that shouldn't even be allowed to be open,' he added.

The mass pardons could see more than 500 people released from prisons and another nearly 1,000 cases dismissed.

As of August, 944 defendants had their cases adjudicated and received sentences for their activity on January 6, 2021, according to the Justice Department.

And 562 of those were sentenced to incarceration of varying periods.

More than 1,488 defendants were charged in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia in both District and Superior Court.

The DOJ claimed in August that nearly 900 people pleaded guilty to federal crimes and will face incarceration at sentencing, if they haven't already.

Of the 894 pleas, 288 were felonies and 606 misdemeanors.

Many of the charges were related to assaulting law enforcement officers or obstructing, impeding or interfering with law enforcement officers during civil disorder.

At least 180 of those charged with those crimes have been sentenced to prison terms up to 151 months – or nearly 12-and-a-half years.

Himself and his kids

Article II, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution says pardon power allows a president to 'grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.'

There is no language specifying who can or can not receive the pardon.

Since the president is given the power to pardon any federal crime, it appears there is nothing to prevent Trump from adding his own name to the list.

'It is an open question whether a President can pardon himself,' legal scholar John Yoo told Daily Mail. 'The President's power to pardon has very few limits — he cannot pardon for impeachment and he cannot pardon for state crimes.'

'Other than that, there are no limits on the President's ability to pardon for federal crimes,' added the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel under President George W. Bush. 'I think this means that the Constitution allows a President to pardon even himself.'

'The Federalist supporters of the Constitution [felt[ it was more important to give the President as much flexibility in the pardon power as possible,' Yoo, who worked in President George W. Bush's administration, noted.

After President Joe Biden earlier this month pardoned his son Hunter, 54, from felony convictions for lying on a form to purchase a firearm, Trump could seek to do the same for his own children for their involvement in federal lawsuits.

Trump's business empire The Trump Organization already faced conviction for a tax fraud scheme in New York.

And with Eric Trump now as executive vice president, any federal cases involving the business could fall on his middle son.

Trump is also facing a slew of other lawsuits and has been convicted in some, including the E. Jean Carroll case where a jury found in May 2023 that Trump was liable for sexually abusing and defaming her. He was ordered to pay $5 million in damages.

It's possible he could seek to pardon himself in these federal cases.

Trump's legal advisers

Yoo suggested that Trump consider pardoning anyone who gave him legal advice in relation to his challenge of the electoral count in the 2020 election.

Specifically, he told Daily Mail that the president-elect might consider pardons for attorneys John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani.

“[T]hey committed no violence and as lawyers they were within their rights to explore a variety of legal scenarios for President Trump,” Yoo noted.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams

Trump has so far not ruled out issuing a pardon for Adams.

The Democratic Mayor was indicted in September on federal fraud and bribery charges.

But Trump said during his first post-election press conference on December 16 that Adams was 'treated very unfairly,' and suggested he was unfairly targeted because he is critical of the influx of migrants coming into the Big Apple.

Trump said from Palm Beach that he would 'have to see it, because I don't know the facts,' but claimed he is willing to pardon Adams.

The mayor was charged on allegations he received illegal donations from the Turkish government.

Trump joked that Adams was given free and discounted Turkish Airlines flights. He mocked the charges when he told reporters at the press conference that being upgraded on flights 'would mean you'd spend the rest of your life in prison.'

Adams recently said he would consider becoming a Republican.

Ross Ulbricht

A highly followed 'Free Ross' account in X posted after Trump won the 2024 election that the president-elect vowed to pardon Ulbricht.

'ROSS IS COMING HOME IN JANUARY!!' the account wrote in a statement from the 'Ulbricht family.'

'We are so so grateful to Donald Trump for his pledge to #FreeRoss and to all those who have supported us,' it added. 'Here's to this 12th Thanksgiving in prison being the last one!

Ulbricht was sentenced in 2015 to life in prison for creating and operating the dark web marketplace called Silk Road.

Trump, speaking at the Libertarian National Convention in May, pledged that 'on Day One, I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht.'

Commutation is different from a pardon. The former would reduce the sentence while the latter does that but also absolves an individual of the guilt.

A commutation allows for the release of a convicted person while maintaining the verdict that caused the sentence.

Peter Navarro

The future Senior Counselor to the President served a four-month prison sentence earlier this year.

It was a sentence for contempt of Congress after Navarro defied a congressional subpoena in relation to the House January 6 Committee probe into the Capitol riot.

Trump left open the possibility of pardoning his former trade adviser.

He told reporters after voting in Florida on November 5 that Navarro is a 'good man' that was 'treated very unfairly.'

The president-elect also called Navarro a 'great patriot' when asked about a pardon.

But Navarro told the Wall Street Journal six months earlier in May that he would reject any pardon from Trump.

Instead Navarro wants to continue appealing his conviction.

'I will not give the Supreme Court any excuse to duck what is otherwise a landmark constitutional case,' he wrote in a letter sent from prison.

The day he was released from prison after his short sentence, Navarro flew to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to speak at the Republican National Convention.

Julian Assange

During a May interview with podcaster Tim Pool, Trump said he would 'give very serious consideration' to a pardon for Assange.

The WikiLeaks founder fled the country more than a decade ago.

Assange struck a deal with the U.S. government in June to plead guilty to publishing military secrets in his infamous leak. This secured his freedom after 12 years in the United Kingdom.

Some of the time in the U.K. was spent in prison as he fought extradition to the U.S.

If Trump were to pardon Assange, it would wipe clean his felonies while also maintaining his newfound freedom.

Derek Chauvin

A much more long shot possibility that Trump has not yet addressed publicly is a possible reevaluation of the case against former police officer Derek Chauvin.

In 2020, Chauvin became the first white police officer in Minnesota to be charged in the death of a black civilian – George Floyd.

The ensuing nationwide Black Lives Matter riots led to divide in the nation.

Most conservatives were on the side of law enforcement while progressives began calling for the defunding of police.

It's not clear if the next administration would even consider a pardon or commutation for Chauvin, but it does appear that the tide has turned recently.

Video was captured of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck on May 25, 2020 during an arrest made with three other officers. He was dismissed by the Minneapolis Police Department on May 26 and arrested on May 29.

The death of Floyd at Chauvin's hands set off a series of protests that led to the Black Lives Matter riots.

Chauvin in early 2021 was put on jury trial for unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter of Floyd. And on April 20 of that year he was convicted on all of the charges.

He was sentenced two months later to 22-and-a-half years in prison with credit given for 199 days time served. He was given the possibility of supervised release after 15 years.

Chauvin put in requests to the Minnesota Supreme Court and the Supreme Court of the United States for review, but they were denied.

He also pleaded guilty in late 2021 to federal charges of violating Floyd's civil rights by using unreasonable force and in mid-2022 was sentenced to 21 years for that charge.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections lists Chauvin's anticipated release date on the state sentence as December 10, 2035, but for the federal charges it's likely he will be released around 2038.

Chauvin filed a motion in federal court in November last year attempting to vacate his guilty plea.

To serve out his sentence, Chauvin was transferred in August 2022 from Oak Park Heights Prison in Minnesota to FCI Tucson in Arizona, a medium-security federal facility.

He was stabbed by another inmate at the federal facility on November 24, 2023 and was transferred to FCI Big Spring in August this year.