“I will pardon anyone who comes within 200 feet of the Oval Office,” Trump said at a recent meeting, according to WSJ sources, with room staff reportedly laughing at the statement.
One of the sources of the American newspaper stated that he had already made a similar promise at least once, but at that time it was supposed to concern only people who came within three meters of the Oval Office. Another of the sources claims that Trump has already raised the possibility that at the end of his term he could call a press conference where he would announce mass pardons.
The American president would thus end his second term in practically the same way as he began it. In January 2025, right after his inauguration, he unconditionally pardoned 1,500 of his supporters who had participated in the attack on the Capitol four years earlier, including those convicted of assaulting police officers. Since then, Trump has pardoned approximately 300 other people.
Trump’s pardons are mainly perceived as retaliation against the American justice system. According to the American president, she sat on him after he lost the presidential race with Joe Biden in 2020. He later became the target of four different criminal prosecutions, including for his attempt to overturn the result of the mentioned elections. However, these prosecutions were not completed before Trump was re-elected president in the fall of 2024.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavittová has already commented on the news of the promised pardon for all of Trump’s associates. “The Wall Street Journal should learn to get the joke. But the president’s power to grant pardons is absolute,” Leavitt said.
