Outside the Beltway

In Front of Our Noses: Abuses of the Pardon Power

Part of the never-ending story of abuse and corruption.

Steven L. Taylor · Saturday, January 17, 2026 · 6 comments

“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”-George Orwell.

For previous entries, click here.

Via the NYT: Trump Sets Fraudster Free From Prison for a Second Time.

In 2021, a convicted fraudster named Adriana Camberos was freed from prison when President Trump commuted her sentence.

Rather than taking advantage of that second chance, prosecutors said, Ms. Camberos returned to crime. She and her brother were convicted in 2024 in an unrelated fraud.

This week, Mr. Trump pardoned both siblings, marking the second time he had opened the prison gates for Ms. Camberos.

[…]

Among the other lucky recipients: a man whose daughter had given millions to a Trump-backed super PAC, a former governor of Puerto Rico and a former F.B.I. agent — all of whom had pleaded guilty in a political corruption case.

The pardons, most of which have not been previously reported, were supported by people with close ties to Mr. Trump’s orbit, including lawyers who had worked for him.

They continue a trend in which Mr. Trump has used the unfettered presidential clemency power to reward allies and those who have paid his associates or donated to his political operation. 

I have nothing specific to say about the individual cases, as I am not conversant with them, save to note that this is all clearly an abuse of power and a perversion of justice. On the list of damage that Trump is doing, this is well down the list, but it nonetheless matters.

This is also yet another way in which the cries of “law and order” from Republican circles ring oh so very hollow. The corruption here is just so staggeringly obvious, as is the utter lack of any pretext of justice. All this is also a reminder that stopping “fraud and abuse” is a slogan for the rubes, not an actual goal.

It is the opposite of the idea of a nation of laws and is an ongoing reminder of the flaws in our system of justice. Indeed, it is almost out of a comic book or a gangster film wherein the hero works to arrest a crook only to see the corrupt local police let him go because it is good to have friends in high places.

The perversion of the process is profound. Further, this kind of blatant doling out of favors is very likely what the Framers thought the impeachment power was for. After all, much of the above fits, notionally if not legally, into bribery. But, as I have noted, the Framers whiffed on the role that parties would play in the system of checks and balances. Nonetheless, I think it is fair to hold the Republicans caucuses in the House and the Senate culpable for allowing this kind of behavior to persist, since they are what stand in the way of the constitutional order coming into balance on this topic. That we aren’t even talking about this fact in any serious way is an indictment of both the Constitution, for lacking a truly adequate solution to these problems, and of the character of the majority party for its craven willingness to ignore that which is going on, dare I say, right in front of their noses.

It would be nice, for example, if the Speaker of the House were at least as concerned about the President selling off pardons as he is about his son viewing pornography. The shallowness of the publicly pious can be a stomach-churning thing to observe.

Before Trump was president, I could have argued both for and against the pardon power, and probably would have come down on the pro side, all the while acknowledging some examples of past abuse and agreeing about hypothetical concerns (although had you asked me about writing a constitution from scratch, I would have structured the power differently). However, Trump is clearly demonstrating that, as it currently exists, the pardon power is simply open to massive abuse. Moreover, it is clear that he is willing, as the J6 pardons and commutations demonstrated, to use the power to reward those who would violently break the law in his name. That fact is more dangerous than the petty corruption noted above.

I suspect that pardon power reform is unlikely, given the long list of needed reforms and especially since it would require constitutional amendment; but were it up to me, I would likely move it to an independent panel that could make recommendations to the president, while also taking the power to select whom to pardon utterly out of the hands of the president. I can accept the theoretical idea that sometimes gross miscarriages of justice require rectification, but Trump has shown that one person should not be imbued with that power.

Of course, as a general matter, Trump is demonstrating that we need massive reform as it pertains to the administration of justice itself, to include the need for a formally independent Department of Justice.