President Donald Trump is being flooded with pardon requests from a long list of federal prisoners as he prepares to take the oath of office for a second time.
Some of those seeking clemency include reality stars like “Tiger King” Joe Exotic and prisoners who were convicted over the January 6 protests.
A lawyer for Proud Boys leader Jason Biggs has confirmed that he is seeking Trump’s pardon.
Biggs received one of the longest January 6 sentences when he was imprisoned for 17 years for seditious conspiracy.
In a letter to Trump, Biggs’s lawyer Norm Pattis compared pardoning Jan. 6 prisoners to the amnesty that the Confederates received after the Civil War.
“These are divisive times,” Pattis wrote.
“The divisions were acute in 2020 when millions believed the election was stolen and turned out to make sure electoral integrity was preserved.
“Suspicions and bitterness about the election lingers to this day.
“A pardon of Mr. Biggs will help close that wound and inspire confidence in the future.”
Trump has also received pardon requests from former Oklahoma zookeeper Joe Exotic.
The TV documentary star was notoriously convicted of a murder-for-hire plot chronicled in the show “Tiger King.”
Exotic was convicted along with Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were found guilty of fraud.
The rapper Boosie Badazz, charged with unlawful gun possession, is also hoping for a lucky break after Trump pardoned Lil Wayne and Kodak Black during his first term.
Trump has repeatedly pledged to pardon many, but not necessarily all, of the Jan. 6 defendants.
Several have moved to delay their cases in anticipation of a pardon.
“If they’re innocent I would pardon them,” Trump said in July.
“They were convicted by a very tough system.”
Trump has also shown sympathy to New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat.
Adams was indicted this year on federal bribery charges.
The Democrat mayor became a target of the U.S. Department of Justice after he openly criticized the open border policies of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Adams’ defenders, including Trump, have cast him as the victim of political retribution from a weaponized justice system.
The president-elect took a victory lap on Monday as Special Counsel Jack Smith moved to drop Trump’s Jan. 6 “election interference” case.
It was a stunning vindication for Trump, who faced prison before his historic re-election essentially ended a lawfare campaign against him.
These cases, like all of the other cases I have been forced to go through, are empty and lawless, and should never have been brought. Over $100 Million Dollars of Taxpayer Dollars has been wasted in the Democrat Party’s fight against their Political Opponent, ME. Nothing like…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2024
While Trump’s critics cast him as an aspiring “dictator,” he has floated a pardon for Hunter Biden.
Trump says he’s not taking it off the table “despite what they’ve done to me.”
