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Una protesta contra el gobierno de Gustavo Petro, en Bogotá, en 2024. El presidente termina su mandato en 2026. Foto: EFE

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President Donald Trump granted clemency this year to a range of figures he viewed as victims of an unfair justice system. Some were tied to his newfound interest in cryptocurrency or shared in his 2020 election grievances, while another was simply brought up during a round of golf.

While presidents of both parties have long used their pardon power in controversial ways, Trump’s clemency activity in 2025 stood out for its volume and for the deal-making style that has been a defining feature of his approach to power. 

What follows is a list of some of the president’s most controversial pardons in 2025. 

Jan. 6 defendants

The day Trump took office, he issued mass clemency to nearly all his supporters who had been convicted of federal offenses related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Trump said at the time they had been «treated very unfair» by prosecutors and the courts.

Roughly 1,600 people faced charges over the Capitol attack, and the Department of Justice secured guilty pleas or convictions for more than 1,200 of them, according to federal data. About 200 pleaded guilty to felonies that included assaulting officers, and more than 200 others were convicted in trials of offenses that included attacking law enforcement.

Trump singled out 14 of the defendants, some of whom received prison sentences that stretched beyond a decade, and commuted their sentences instead of pardoning them. They included numerous Oath Keepers and Proud Boys leaders.

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The president also directed the DOJ to drop pending cases for all the remaining defendants. The grand act of clemency wiped out one of the DOJ’s largest and most resource-intensive law enforcement operations in history. Cases were brought throughout all four years of the Biden administration.

Changpeng Zhao

The founder and former CEO of Binance, the largest cryptocurrency platform, was convicted of anti-money laundering violations and received a full pardon in October 2025.

The pardon came one week after Donald Trump Jr. introduced a lobbyist for Zhao to Trump while on stage at Charlie Kirk’s memorial.

Critics observed that Binance has boosted the Trump family’s cryptocurrency company, but a lawyer denied any business reasons for the pardon, instead telling the Wall Street Journal Zhao was «pardoned for justice.»

George Santos

The former U.S. representative who was found to be a serial fabulist after his congressional run had his seven-year prison sentence commuted in October 2025.

Santos pleaded guilty to federal fraud and identity-theft charges, admitting to using campaign funds to buy luxury products and pay off his credit card debt.

Fellow Long Island Republicans who had previously called for his resignation reacted angrily to the commutation, with Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., calling it «not justice» and unfair to the people Santos defrauded.

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Former Rep. George Santos arrives at court in Central Islip, N.Y., Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)

Trump said Santos, who became an outspoken supporter of the president prior to receiving the pardon, was mistreated in jail. Santos «has been in solitary confinement for long stretches of time and, by all accounts, has been horribly mistreated,» Trump said.

Tim Leiweke

Leiweke, a sports executive, was charged by the Trump DOJ’s Antitrust Division with rigging a bid to build an arena at the University of Texas.

The DOJ accused Leiweke of violating the Sherman Act by gypping the university and taxpayers out of a fair bidding process to benefit his own company.

Former Rep. Trey Gowdy, who represented Leiweke, persuaded Trump to grant his client the pardon after a round of golf at Mar-a-Lago, the Wall Street Journal first reported.

Juan Orlando Hernandez

Trump issued a heavily criticized pardon to Hernandez, the former president of Honduras, who had been convicted in a U.S. federal court on drug-trafficking and firearms charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison for helping cocaine traffickers move hundreds of tons of narcotics into the U.S.

Trump’s pardon, granted in December, freed Hernandez from prison in West Virginia just days before Honduras’s presidential election. Honduras responded by issuing a warrant for Hernandez’s arrest.

Trump claimed Hernandez had been unfairly prosecuted by the Biden administration. Critics observed that Trump has pushed legal boundaries to carry out one of his top agenda items, cracking down on drug trafficking, and that Hernandez’s release was counterproductive to that mission.

The Chrisleys

Todd and Julie Chrisley, reality TV stars from «Chrisley Knows Best,» were convicted in 2022 of bank fraud and tax evasion and both serving prison sentences when Trump pardoned them in May. Trump cited «pretty harsh treatment» as his reason for the clemency.

Their daughter, Savannah, endorsed Trump during the Republican National Committee convention ahead of the 2024 election. The daughter revealed in December she is stepping into a cohost role on «The View.» Incidentally, Savannah Chrisley’s future cohosts had slammed her parents’ pardon as unethical.

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Reality TV star Todd Chrisley speaks as his daughter Savannah Chrisley looks on during a news conference on Friday, May 30, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (George Walker IV/AP Photo)

«If you are a reality star with a lot of money, and a tax cheat, and you commit fraud, then that’s good. We’re going to give you a pardon,» anti-Trump host Joy Behar had said.

Devon Archer

Trump granted a full pardon to Archer, who was convicted in a federal fraud case, in March 2025. Archer was a longtime business partner of Hunter Biden but became an ally to House Republicans as they investigated the Bidens for what they said were corrupt foreign business dealings.

Henry Cuellar and his wife

The Democratic congressman from Texas and his wife were pardoned after the Biden DOJ brought federal bribery charges against them.

Trump claimed they were unfairly targeted because Henry Cuellar, a moderate who represented a battleground district in South Texas, supported more border security than many of his Democratic colleagues. However, when Cuellar filed for reelection as a Democrat after Trump’s pardon, the president said he was displeased.

«Such a lack of LOYALTY,» Trump wrote on social media. «Oh well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!»

Tina Peters

Trump announced in December that he pardoned Tina Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado, elections clerk who was serving a 9-year state prison sentence for orchestrating a data-breach scheme to advance fraud claims related to the 2020 election.

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Trump framed the pardon as support for her efforts to «expose voter fraud,» but because her convictions were in Colorado state court, legal experts and state officials say the president has no authority to pardon state-level convictions, and her sentence has not been automatically erased or resulted in her release.

La escalada de tensiones en el sur del Yemen entre Arabia Saudita y Emiratos Árabes Unidos (EAU) ha revelado el conflicto interno en la coalición antihutí, con acusaciones de Riad contra Abu Dhabi por amenazar su seguridad nacional, en medio de la ofensiva secesionista yemení en el sur.

La coalición militar liderada por Arabia Saudita bombardeó este martes un cargamento de armas procedente de Emiratos en el puerto de Mukalla, en el sur del Yemen, destinado a los secesionistas del Consejo de Transición Sureño (CTS), un episodio de violencia que marca también la primera acusación pública de Riad contra su aliado por alimentar divisiones internas.

El Consejo de Liderazgo Presidencial (CLP) -que actúa como órgano ejecutivo del Yemen reconocido internacionalmente– encabezado por Rashad al Alimi decretó en esta jornada un estado de emergencia de 90 días en las zonas bajo su control, un bloqueo aéreo, terrestre y marítimo de 72 horas, y rompió el acuerdo de defensa con EAU.

Y exigió a los emiratíes la retirada inmediata de sus fuerzas y personal en 24 horas, al considerar que Abu Dhabi instiga un “golpe de Estado” al respaldar la ofensiva del CTS en las provincias orientales de Hadramut y Al Mahra.

Esta crisis, originada en la ofensiva relámpago del CTS a principios de diciembre que le permitió controlar dos provincias ricas en recursos y fronterizas con Omán y Arabia Saudita, evidencia las fisuras en la coalición formada en 2015 y que podría beneficiar indirectamente a los hutíes.

Estos son los principales actores implicados en el conflicto.

Esta alianza, liderada formalmente por Arabia Saudita y, paradójicamente, por Emiratos Árabes Unidos, se formó en 2015 para apoyar al Gobierno yemení reconocido internacionalmente y por la ONU contra los rebeldes chiíes hutíes -respaldados por Irán-, que tomaron el control de Saná y amplias zonas del país en 2014.

Esta coalición, donde Arabia Saudita es el único en la práctica con activos militares, busca restaurar la legitimidad del Gobierno exiliado en Adén y contrarrestar la influencia iraní sobre los hutíes, aunque ha enfrentado críticas por el impacto humanitario de sus acciones y que ahora ha revelado sus divisiones internas.

Además de Riad y Abu Dhabi, esta alianza también cuenta nominalmente con Jordania, Marruecos y Egipto como miembros, así como Kuwait y Baréin. También ha contado con respaldo internacional como Estados Unidos, Francia y Alemania, entre otros, para capacitar y compartir inteligencia.

EAU apoya militar y económicamente a los secesionistas del sur, agrupados en el Consejo de Transición Sureño (CTS), formado en 2017 por Aidarus al Zubaidi tras su destitución como gobernador de Adén, y que se oponen a los hutíes.

Pese a que Al Zubaidi sea el vicepresidente del Consejo de Liderazgo Presidencial desde 2022, lidera al grupo separatista que lanzó la ofensiva este diciembre contra las unidades militares ligadas al Gobierno reconocido.

El CTS busca reavivar un Yemen del Sur independiente, como el que existió entre 1967 y 1990, y ha recibido envíos de armas desde puertos emiratíes como Fujairah, lo que ha provocado acusaciones de “escalada peligrosa” por parte de Riad y el Gobierno yemení, incluyendo el control reciente de provincias orientales como Hadramut (rica en petróleo) y Al Mahra, fronterizas con Omán y Arabia Saudita.

El Gobierno yemení (o CLP) es un órgano colegiado cuyo líder es Al Alimi, que asumió el poder tras la renuncia de Abdo Rabu Mansur Hadi en 2022 bajo presiones saudíes. Su lucha primordial es contra los hutíes para recuperar el control territorial y restaurar la unidad del país, pero ahora enfrenta divisiones internas instigadas por EAU.

Este Gobierno, con sede en Adén, -los hutíes tomaron Saná hace 11 años- ha impuesto medidas como el estado de emergencia y la ruptura de acuerdos con Abu Dhabi por considerar que el apoyo emiratí al CTS socava su autoridad, fomenta conflictos tribales y podría beneficiar a los rebeldes hutíes, amenazando la cohesión institucional y la seguridad en zonas clave como las provincias orientales, ricas en petróleo.

Su poder militar es muy limitado, y en la práctica se restringe a las fuerzas de la coalición liderada por los saudíes.

Este movimiento insurgente chií respaldado por Irán inició un golpe en 2014 capturando Saná y amplias regiones del norte y oeste del Yemen. Representan el principal adversario de la coalición y el Gobierno reconocido, controlando la capital y zonas estratégicas que incluyen accesos al mar Rojo.

Aunque no están directamente involucrados en la actual crisis secesionista, las autoridades yemeníes y saudíes advierten de que las tensiones internas podrían reavivar luchas que los benefician indirectamente, permitiendo a los hutíes consolidar posiciones y explotar la fragmentación, en un conflicto que ha durado más de una década y ha causado un colapso humanitario en el país.

(Con información de EFE)