The release from prison of reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley Wednesday is the latest in a flurry of pardons that President Donald Trump has handed out in recent weeks — including some to his political and financial supporters.
Beyond the nearly 1,600 “Day 1” pardons and 14 commutations handed out to those charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, Trump has, at this point in his second presidency, pardoned or commuted more than 60 individuals according to the Department of Justice Office of the Pardon Attorney and White House officials.
In previous administrations, presidents have typically issued the majority of their pardons in their final weeks in office.
Joe Biden, for example, issued pardons — including preemptive ones — during the final hours of his presidency to several of his close family members and others who he felt were potential targets of the incoming Trump administration, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and lawmakers who served on the House Jan. 6 Committee.
Of Trump’s 60 pardons or commutations unrelated to Jan. 6, about one in five of them have gone to those who have some sort of financial or political connection to him. Here is a list of those dozen recipients.
Trevor Milton
The founder of the Nikola electric vehicle company, Milton, who was pardoned by Trump on March 27, donated nearly $2 million toward the president’s reelection efforts last year, including $920,000 to the Trump 47 political action committee, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Trump pardoned Milton for his 2022 conviction of federal crimes related to defrauding investors about the potential of his technology.
Imaad Zuberi
On March 28, Trump commuted the sentence of the venture capitalist and major political donor who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for violating campaign finance and tax laws, and obstructing an investigation into Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee.
Zuberi has donated to both Democrats and Republicans, but following the 2016 election, he donated at least $800,000 to committees associated with Trump and the Republican Party, according to FEC filings.
Michele Fiore
A Nevada Republican who was pardoned on April 23, Fiore was awaiting sentencing on federal charges that she took money earmarked for a statue to honor a slain police officer and used it for personal expenses, including plastic surgery.
A longtime Trump supporter, Fiore, during her run for governor of Nevada, ran an ad touting that she was one of the first elected officials to announce she was endorsing Trump in the lead-up to the 2016 election.
Rod Blagojevich
In February, Trump pardoned the former Illinois governor who had been sentenced to 14 years in prison before Trump commuted his sentence in 2020. In 2011, Blagojevich was convicted on 17 counts of corruption, including an attempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat that then-President Barack Obama vacated after being elected to the White House in 2008.
Blagojevich supported Trump’s 2020 and 2024 presidential campaigns, and appeared as a contestant on Trump’s TV show “The Celebrity Apprentice” in 2010.
Michael Grimm
Grimm, who served in Congress from 2011-2015, pleaded guilty in December 2014 to aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return. He served seven months in jail, a month of house arrest, and 200 hours of community service.
Grimm has publicly supported Trump and has served as an on-air personality for the conservative cable news channel Newsmax. Last September, Grimm was paralyzed after being thrown off a horse during a polo tournament.
Devon Archer and Jason Galanis
Archer and Galanis are two former business partners of Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, and both accused the younger Biden of improperly leveraging his father’s political power to broker overseas business relationships, an allegation repeatedly leveled by Trump.
Archer, who was granted a full pardon, was sentenced to more than a year in prison for defrauding a Native American tribal entity in 2022. Trump commuted the 189-month sentence of Jason Galanis, who was serving time for his role in multiple fraudulent schemes.
Todd and Julie Chrisley
Trump on May 28 officially pardoned the couple, who became famous for their show “Chrisley Knows Best” and who were sentenced in November 2022 to a combined 19 years in prison on charges including fraud and tax evasion.
Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in prison and 16 months of probation while Julie Chrisley was ordered to serve seven years in prison and 16 months of probation. Their daughter, Savannah Chrisley appealed to the Trump administration for pardons for her parents and spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Paul Walczak
The president in April pardoned Walczak, a Florida businessman and nursing home executive who pleaded guilty to tax crimes last year. Prosecutors argued that Walczak withheld more than $10 million dollars from his employees’ paychecks and used that money to buy luxury items for himself — including a $2 million yacht. He was set to pay $4 million in restitution and serve 18 months in prison before Trump pardoned him.
According to the New York Times, Walczak’s pardon application stated that his mother, Elizabeth Fago, has donated and raised millions of dollars for Trump’s presidential campaigns. The Times also reported that she recently attended a major fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, though it was unclear if she donated to attend the event.
Scott Howard Jenkins
Trump pardoned Jenkins on May 26, one day before he was set to report to federal prison. The former Virginia sheriff had been convicted of federal bribery charges and sentenced to 10 years. Jenkins lobbied the administration for a pardon, and after he was pardoned Ed Martin tweeted “No MAGA left behind.”
A GoFundMe account supporting Jenkins says he was invited to the White House numerous times for briefings under the Trump administration and also appeared regularly on Fox News.
Brian Kelsey
A former Republican Tennessee state senator who pleaded guilty to an illegal campaign finance fraud scheme. Kelsey repeatedly accused the Biden administration of weaponizing the Justice Department — a favorite line of President Trump.
“God used Donald Trump to save me from the weaponized Biden DOJ,” Kelsey wrote on X, announcing that he had received a pardon. Kelsey told the New York Times in an interview that three Republican members of Tennessee’s congressional delegation — Representatives Mark Green, Chuck Fleischmann and Andy Ogles — all wrote letters in support of his petition for a pardon that he submitted to the Trump administration in January. He said that his clemency request likely resonated with Mr. Trump, whom he called “victim No. 1” of political persecution.
Kelsey also donated roughly $15,000 to the Trump 47 Committee last year, according to filings.
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