President Trump says the pardon pen isn’t going back in the drawer anytime soon.
Quick Take
- Trump told CBS News’ 60 Minutes he plans “tremendous numbers” of pardons in the second half of his term.
- He said clemency could reach people who got “within a thousand miles of the Oval Office.”
- His first day back in office already produced roughly 1,500 pardons and commutations tied to the January 6 Capitol riot.
- No list, number, or timeline has been released, so the full scope of the plan is still unknown.
What The President Actually Said
President Trump made the comment during a nationally broadcast interview with correspondent Ross Douthat. “I intend to issue tremendous numbers of pardons,” he said, explaining he doesn’t want administration staff spending years fighting what he calls politically driven investigations. The remark wasn’t a leak or a rumor. It came straight from the sitting president, on camera, in his own words.
“I intend to issue tremendous numbers of pardons, in fact, I say oftentimes: anybody that got within a thousand miles of the Oval Office,” says President Trump.
Watch the extended interview: https://t.co/3opay4LR9R pic.twitter.com/E5jiQfR7eN
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) November 9, 2026
Trump also floated the idea that clemency might extend to people who got “within a thousand miles of the Oval Office,” a loose phrase that raised eyebrows but came with no names attached. That kind of language invites big headlines, but it doesn’t tell us who, how many, or when. The president set a direction. He didn’t hand out a roster.
A Pattern Already In Motion
This isn’t a cold start. On his first day back in office, Trump signed a proclamation giving full pardons to people convicted in the January 6 Capitol riot and commuted the sentences of 14 others. Reporting at the time put the total number of people covered at around 1,500. He had telegraphed that move before the inauguration, telling supporters he’d act fast once back in the White House.
That track record matters here. Trump doesn’t just talk about clemency, he uses it, and he uses it in bulk. The January 6 action proves the legal machinery is already warmed up. A president doesn’t need Congress, a court, or anyone’s permission to grant a pardon. The only limits are political will and public reaction, and Trump has shown plenty of the former.
What’s Still Unknown And Why It Matters
“Tremendous numbers” is a phrase, not a plan. It doesn’t say whether we’re talking about dozens of cases or thousands. It doesn’t say which offenses qualify, whether recipients need to file petitions, or whether the Justice Department’s pardon attorney will even be part of the process. Those questions stay open until the White House puts out names or numbers.
The Bigger Picture On Presidential Mercy
Presidents have used the pardon power since George Washington granted amnesty after the Whiskey Rebellion in 1795. It’s one of the broadest, least checked powers in the Constitution, meant to let a president correct injustice or show mercy without asking anyone’s permission. Department of Justice records count over 22,000 clemency actions across more than a century of presidencies, though that number spans many administrations and offers no real baseline for what a modern term should look like.
What makes Trump’s comment newsworthy isn’t that presidents issue pardons. It’s the scale he’s promising and the fact he’s saying it out loud, months before acting. Supporters will see a president following through on a promise to protect people he believes were targeted unfairly. Critics will point to the same pattern and call it something else. Either way, the number of actual pardons issued by year’s end will be the only thing that settles the argument.
For now, the facts are simple and not in dispute. Trump said more pardons are coming, a lot of them, and his first-term-two moves already back up the seriousness of that promise. The rest, who gets the call and when, is still an open question only the White House can answer.
Sources:
abcnews.com, supremecourt.gov, thehill.com
