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Guest Essay

By Liz Oyer

Ms. Oyer was the Department of Justice pardon attorney from 2022 to 2025.

President Trump took pardon abuse to a new level this year with a string of dubious clemencies that together present a unique case study in how this unfettered executive power can be used to degrade, corrupt and politicize the justice system.

The president pardoned one of his supporters, Michele Fiore, a Nevada politician who was convicted of federal charges that she used money from a police memorial fund for personal expenses, including for plastic surgery. He pardoned another supporter, Scott Jenkins, a former sheriff in Virginia who took bribes

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