Skip to content
RollCall logo

Podcasts

Pardon me? Tales of presidential pardons

Political Theater, Episode 355

Security barricades the House chamber as rioters disrupt the joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021. Reps. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, blue shirt, and Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., right, are also pictured. President Donald Trump issued pardons to all those involved in the attack.
Security barricades the House chamber as rioters disrupt the joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021. Reps. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, blue shirt, and Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., right, are also pictured. President Donald Trump issued pardons to all those involved in the attack. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
By Jason Dick and Todd Ruger
Posted January 22, 2025 at 2:57pm

Presidential pardons are all over the place, thanks to outgoing President Joe Biden and newly sworn in President Donald Trump. Presidents’ power to pardon is pretty comprehensive, and has been used to pardon Confederates, Jimmy Hoffa, Richard Nixon, Defense secretaries, family members and dirty tricksters, and most recently the Jan. 6 crowd and the founder of the black market drug marketplace Silk Road.

Show Notes:

Recent Stories

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office in March to put new restrictions on mail-in voting.

Judge declines to block parts of Trump mail voting order, for now

Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., conduct a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on April 15.

Senate panel releases NIL bill, plans hearing

Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., seen here at the Capitol in March, said she would not seek the endorsement of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in her bid for a Senate seat.

Not on Angie’s list: Seeking DFL Party endorsement

The facade of the Supreme Court building.

Alabama asks Supreme Court to allow use of new congressional map

House Armed Services Chairman Mike D. Rogers, R-Ala. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

NDAA mark unveiled by House Armed Services Committee chairman

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, seen here at February's State of the Union, defeated incumbent GOP Sen. John Cornyn in Tuesday's runoff elections. Paxton was endorsed by President Donald Trump last week.

Paxton defeat of Cornyn highlights Texas runoff night