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How Trump Yields the Presidential Pardon

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Liz Oyer (left), a former U.S. pardon attorney who reviewed and investigated applications for executive clemency, speaks alongside Ryan Crosswell, Rachel Cohen and Stacey Young during a bicameral hearing on the U.S. Justice Department in the Dirksen Senate Building on April 7, 2025 in Washington, DC.  (Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images)

The pardon power gives U.S. presidents an unusual and extraordinary tool, one that most former presidents have used sparingly and with an eye on potential political fallout. President Donald Trump, however, has used the power to pardon political allies and supporters, January 6 seditionists and an international drug trafficker. Liz Oyer, who served for three years as a pardon attorney for the Department of Justice, says these remarkable pardons are all part of a larger plan to corrupt the American justice system.

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