President Trump is reportedly interested in giving out pardons to “every person” he’s talked to as his presidency comes to a close.
The president has gone as far as to refer to signing pardons “like Christmas gifts” to both people who are seeking them and to those who aren’t, according to Axios.
Trump reportedly told an adviser recently that he planned to issue one for “every person who ever talked to me,” which suggests that a handful of lame-duck pardons could be on the horizon as Jan. 20, the date of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, gets closer.
The president said that the pardons could be necessary if the Biden administration targets those in the Trump administration, although the president-elect has said that he won’t force agencies to investigate those who worked under Trump, and he’s said he’ll keep the Department of Justice apolitical.
Trump has only issued one pardon since the summer, and that was for retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, the president’s first national security adviser. Prior to last month’s pardon, Flynn, 61, sought to dismiss the government’s case against him this year after he previously pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to investigators about his December 2016 conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
