President Donald Trump wears a 'Trump Was Right About Everything!' hat as he visits The People’s House: A White House Experience museum in Washington D.C., August 22, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Conservative former War College professor and ex-Republican Tom Nichols thinks the U.S. could quickly decide to remove the president's pardon power, or alter it radically.
The Washington Sun reported Saturday morning that President Donald Trump's administration is considering a blanket pardon for all junior staff if Democrats take over the House of Representatives after the Nov. 3 elections.
The lawyers hope it could help protect lower-ranking staff. However, Congress doesn't prosecute anyone; the Justice Department does. Trump's former personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, is in charge of the Justice Department. So, it's unclear why the staff would need the pardons.
“Because these people are lunatics on the, on the left — I don’t want to see people that work for me go through years of nonsense, hire lawyers and everything else, all for nothing,” Trump ranted earlier this month.
Nichols responded to the report by saying, "I am always against monkeying around with the Constitution, but if Trump does this and links it to policy areas, then it really is time to change or eliminate the pardon power, which was never supposed to be used as a blanket shield for preventing accountability."
While it's unclear whether Trump allies or anyone in the administration is selling pardons, it has certainly been a problem in the past among state leaders.
Pardon-selling scandals have brought down state officials and helped force a governor from office, most famously in Tennessee under Gov. Ray Blanton. However, Blanton’s actual criminal conviction was about selling liquor licenses, not selling pardons.
In Dec. 1978, federal investigators arrested three state employees, including two members of Blanton’s own legal staff, on charges involving the sale of pardons, paroles and sentence commutations.
The most egregious example of his pardons came on Jan. 15, 1979, when Blanton issued clemency for 52 prisoners, including convicted murderers. Fearing additional releases, state officials arranged for incoming Governor Lamar Alexander to take office three days early, ending Blanton’s authority to grant more pardons.
Former Oklahoma Gov. Jack Walton was impeached and removed from office in Nov. 1923 after allegations that included selling pardons and paroles. The state Senate convicted him of abusing his clemency powers, among other offenses, though he was acquitted of bribery accusations.
In Louisiana, it wasn't the governor responsible but the pardon and parole board chairman, Howard Marsellus. He was found guilty and received a five-year federal prison sentence for selling his votes in clemency decisions.
Reps. Dave Min (D-Calf.), Raul Ruiz (D-Calf.), Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Robert Garcia (D-Calf.), as well as Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) have each indicated they want to investigate the pardons from the administration. Some have already launched inquiries, while others are plotting for a possible takeover in January.
Rep. Garcia said “our top issues” at the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will be “Trump corruption and Trump family corruption. Everything to do from the crypto scheme to pay-to-play, selling pardons, obviously the Trump family cutting real estate deals, the defense contracts."