As he prepares to take the oath of office for a second time, President-elect Donald Trump is being flooded with pardon requests from a long list of federal prisoners.
Some of those seeking clemency include reality stars like "Tiger King" Joe Exotic and right-wing activists who were involved in the January 6th riot.
A lawyer for Proud Boys leader Jason Biggs has confirmed that he is seeking Trump's pardon. Biggs received one of the longest January 6th sentences, 17 years for seditious conspiracy.
In a letter to Trump, Biggs' lawyer Norm Pattis compared pardoning January 6thers to the amnesty that the Confederates received after the Civil War.
“These are divisive times,” Pattis wrote. “The divisions were acute in 2020, when millions believed the election was stolen and turned out to make sure electoral integrity was preserved. Suspicions and bitterness about the election lingers to this day.”
“A pardon of Mr. Biggs will help close that wound and inspires confidence in the future."
Trump has also received pardon requests from former Oklahoma zookeeper Joe Exotic, who was notoriously convicted of a murder-for-hire plot chronicles in the show Tiger King, and Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were found guilty of fraud.
The rapper Boosie Badazz, charged with unlawful gun possession, is also hoping for a lucky break after Trump pardoned Lil Wayne and Kodak Black during his first term.
Trump has repeatedly pledged to pardon many, but not necessarily all, of the January 6th defendants. Several have moved to delay their cases in anticipation of a pardon.
"If they're innocent I would pardon them," Trump said in July. "They were convicted by a very tough system."
Trump has also shown sympathy to New York mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who was indicted this year on federal bribery charges. Adams' defenders, including Trump, have cast him as the victim of political retribution from a weaponized justice system.
The president-elect took a victory lap on Monday as Special Counsel Jack Smith moved to drop Trump's "election interference" case - a stunning vindication for Trump, who faced prison before his shocking re-election essentially ended a lawfare campaign against him.
These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought. Over $100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME. Nothing like…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2024
While Trump's critics cast him as an aspiring dictator, he has floated a pardon for Hunter Biden, the son of Trump's former rival Joe Biden, with Trump saying he's not taking it off the table "despite what they've done to me."
