Trump Pardons at Least 85 Officials Tied to Corruption Cases With MAGA Allies Reaping Most of the Mercy

Donald Trump has granted clemency to at least 85 public officials charged with or convicted of corruption-related crimes, and most were Republicans or vocal Trump supporters, according to Reuters.

The review, published on Tuesday 13 October 2026, is the first comprehensive count of such clemency across Trump's two terms to date.

Reuters estimated that the clemency spared recipients a combined 130 years in prison and more than £11 million ($15 million) in financial penalties.

A White House spokesperson said Trump was granting clemency to Americans prosecuted by a 'weaponised' Justice Department.

Republicans Dominate the List

Of the 85 officials, 36 were elected Republicans and 19 were Republicans appointed to political office, Reuters found.

Nine more had campaigned for Trump or publicly backed his agenda. Only four were known Democrats, and Reuters could not determine the party affiliation of 17.

The recipients included seven Trump advisers, three Justice Department officials, three governors, 10 state lawmakers, two city council members, two judges and two sheriffs.

Some had been convicted and others only charged, in cases involving fraud, bribery, conspiracy, racketeering, obstruction of justice and other offences.

At least 11 of the 15 Republican members of Congress convicted of wrongdoing over the past two decades have been pardoned.

Reuters counted people who held elected or appointed government roles or worked in the civil or uniformed services. It excluded at least 18 active-duty military personnel, police officers and government employees charged or convicted over the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot.

Nearly three-quarters of the 85 left prison early, avoided trial or sentencing, or regained rights such as gun ownership. More than three-quarters did not cooperate with prosecutors, and most neither pleaded guilty nor publicly expressed remorse. More than half have stayed in politics or remained vocal supporters of Trump.

From Charity Fraud to a Senate Seat for Sale

Among the beneficiaries is Michele Fiore, a Nevada Republican whom a federal jury convicted of charity fraud in October 2024.

Prosecutors said she spent nearly £60,000 ($80,000) in donations meant for a memorial to a slain police officer on plastic surgery, her daughter's wedding and rent, Reuters reported.

Trump granted her 'a full and unconditional pardon' weeks before her sentencing. Fiore remains a Nye County justice of the peace, although Reuters reported she has not been working in the role.

County figures indicate she will have received about £189,000 ($252,536) in salary and benefits by the time her term ends, since her indictment. Her lawyer, Michael Sanft, called her spending 'sloppy accounting'.

In Tennessee, a federal jury convicted former Tennessee House speaker Glen Casada in May 2025 in a scheme that prosecutors said steered about £39,000 ($52,000) in government funds to a company run under an alias by his former aide Cade Cothren, with Casada taking at least £5,300 ($7,100) in bribes and kickbacks.

Cothren was also convicted. Trump pardoned both men in November 2025 after country singer John Rich advocated for them, according to Reuters.

The White House said the Justice Department had 'significantly over-prosecuted these individuals for a minor issue'.

'Individuals that are elected to office should be held to a higher standard,' said Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, a Republican.

Trump also pardoned John Rowland, a former Republican governor of Connecticut who pleaded guilty in 2004 over illegal gifts and was later sentenced to 30 months for concealing consulting payments.

Two Democrats also received clemency: Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor convicted of trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat, and Texas congressman Henry Cuellar, who, along with his wife, was pardoned in December 2025. Cuellar had been indicted over nearly £450,000 ($600,000) in alleged bribes, and the case ended with the pardon.

Reuters reported that Trump had expected Cuellar to switch parties. When Cuellar announced he would seek re-election as a Democrat, Trump called him 'a LOSER'. Blagojevich has since worked as a lobbyist, earning about £37,500 ($50,000) in 2026, for helping a fugitive former Indiana city councillor seek a pardon.

A Shrinking Corruption Unit

More than half of the 85 officials were charged or convicted in cases involving the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section. The unit had about 30 prosecutors at the end of the Biden administration and now has two full-time prosecutors, according to four people familiar with it.

A June study by two former anti-corruption prosecutors, published by the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, found that the Justice Department had not publicly disclosed a single new bribery case in Trump's second term up to that point.

FBI Director Kash Patel also shut down CR-15, an elite corruption squad. Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that the White House had excluded prosecutors from pardon reviews, breaking with the department's practice of having its pardon attorney seek their views.

'President Trump is trying to end accountability for public officials,' said Phillip Halpern, a retired federal prosecutor in San Diego. Christopher Shays, a former Republican congressman, warned: 'If you have public officials who believe they can get away with being corrupt, there will be more corruption.'

New York University law professor Rachel Barkow said the pardons signalled that if someone helps Trump personally, he will 'help you personally, even if you engaged in corruption'.

White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said Trump grants clemency to 'many Americans unjustly prosecuted by the Biden administration's weaponised Department of Justice'.

Justice Department spokesperson Audrey Cook said the department 'remains committed to identifying, investigating, and prosecuting public corruption', adding: 'No one should mistake the President's use of his constitutional pardon authority for a change in the law.'

Joe Biden and Barack Obama each commuted more prison sentences than Trump, many for non-violent drug offenders. Trump has granted far more pardons than any recent president, largely through mass clemency for those charged over the Capitol riot. Reuters described its count of 85 officials as a minimum.