The White House Considers Granting 250 Pardons for the Nation’s Birthday

Presidents have generally treated their pardon power like an embarrassing secret, closely held among only a few trusted aides and exercised quietly in the final days of an administration. Some have signed clemency warrants just hours before boarding Marine One for their final flight.But not Donald Trump.Since returning to the White House for his second term, Trump has wielded his authority to grant clemency with abandon. He issued pardons or commuted the sentences of nearly 1,600 people associated with the January 6 Capitol riot on his first day back in office and has publicly mused since about preemptively pardoning aides and allies. Now the White House is discussing a possible announcement of presidential pardons as a centerpiece of the nation’s semiquincentennial celebrations over the Fourth of July weekend, according to 14 people familiar with the conversations. The idea has been described as “250 pardons for 250 years,” an initiative that would put one of the most politically fraught constitutional powers at the forefront of the country’s birthday festivities.The president had not been presented with the proposal as of Friday, and the idea may never rise to his level, a White House official told us. Trump’s advisers are still split on whether mass pardons for the anniversary of American independence would be a good idea. One adviser said there had been polling that suggested that a mass pardon could benefit the president, but any action was unlikely by Independence Day. The Wall Street Journal reported in May that 250 pardons were being considered.Advocates for the plan say it would both underscore the president’s singular authority and reinforce an image he has long sought to cultivate: “Trump the merciful,” as a person close to the White House described it to us recently. Meanwhile, the prospect of a mass pardon has set off an international frenzy of lobbying and dealmaking, in which even slight proximity to the president can be monetized.Five current and for