President Donald Trump issued a fresh round of pardons on Wednesday evening, handing them out to a disgraced former member of Congress and a rapper convicted on gun charges—and intensifying his clemency spree that has blurred the line between justice and political favor.
Clemency is one of the few powers Trump can exercise without oversight. The courts can’t block it, and Congress can’t reverse it. Recently, he’s used it to reward allies, enhance his image, and assert control.
His relationship with tech billionaire Elon Musk has deteriorated. His “Liberation Day” tariffs were just overturned by a court. His approval rating is underwater. Yet, with little more than his signature, he can grab a headline—and garner loyalty.
The latest recipients of that power are former New York Rep. Michael Grimm and former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland. Both are Republicans. Both are convicted felons. And now both have been redeemed by Trump’s pen.
Grimm served Staten Island in Congress from 2011 until his resignation in 2015. He cultivated a reputation for belligerence—once threatening to throw a reporter off a balcony—but his political career unraveled when he pleaded guilty to hiding over $900,000 in income and filing false tax returns. He spent seven months in prison and sought a political comeback in 2018, but he lost the GOP primary after Trump backed his opponent.
More recently, Grimm took up as an on-air contributor at the right-wing outlet Newsmax, where he echoed Trump’s spin on the news. Then, last September, he was paralyzed after falling off a horse during a polo tournament.
Rowland’s criminal history is more extensive. Once viewed as a rising GOP star, he served as Connecticut’s governor from 1995 to 2004, when he resigned in disgrace amid a corruption scandal. He was imprisoned twice—once for corruption, and again for illegally colluding with two congressional campaigns.
Trump’s spokesman, Harrison Fields, framed the action as a response to injustice.
“President Trump knows firsthand the impact of a weaponized justice system,” Fields told The New York Times, adding that Trump is “using his constitutional authority to right the wrongs of Americans who’ve been impacted by this corrupt system.”
According to one tally, Grimm and Rowland are the eighth and ninth Republican elected officials Trump has pardoned. Their clemency came shortly after Trump appointed Ed Martin—an ally whose nomination for U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., failed—as the new pardon attorney at the Justice Department.
Others pardoned on Wednesday include Larry Hoover, the founder of a notorious Chicago street gang, and rapper Kentrell Gaulden, better known as NBA YoungBoy, who had received a nearly two-year prison sentence on gun-related charges.
“I want to thank President Trump for granting me a pardon and giving me the opportunity to keep building—as a man, as a father, and as an artist,” Gaulden said in a statement posted to his Instagram account.
This all comes just one day after Trump pardoned reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted in 2022 for fraud and tax evasion. The Chrisleys built their brand on Southern charm and piety, but prosecutors labeled them “career swindlers.” Their daughter Savannah is a vocal Trump supporter who spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention—and Trump, ever drawn to adoration, called her to deliver the news.
Trump also hinted at an even more troubling possibility: pardons for individuals involved in the 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.
“I will look at it—take a look at it,” he said. “It’s been brought to my attention, I did watch the trial. It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job, I’ll be honest with you. It looked to me like some people said some stupid things.”
The message couldn’t be clearer: If you’re MAGA enough, you’re in the clear. Doesn’t matter if you defrauded the government, threatened to overthrow it, or were caught with illegal guns. With Trump in charge, the rule of law bends to loyalty.