'A classic authoritarian tactic': outrage over Trump's pardons for friends and allies [View all]

(Guardian) Donald Trump’s unprecedented pardoning spree for political and business friends since returning to the White House has prompted warnings from ex-prosecutors and legal scholars of “corrupt” pay-to-play schemes, conflicts of interest and blatant partisanship.

It has included hundreds of Maga allies, a cryptocurrency mogul with ties to a Trump family crypto firm, disgraced politicians, and others who could yield political and financial benefits.

Trump’s political and business driven pardons spurred strong rebukes from his first day in office, when he pardoned or commuted sentences for some 1,500 Maga allies who attacked the Capitol on January 6 and tried to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election.

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“The corruption of the pardon process is one of the less visible but nevertheless important aspects of Trump’s sullying of the Justice Department,” said Philip Lacovara, who was counsel to the Watergate special prosecutor. ...............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/11/trump-pardons-justice-department