Trump's "Pardon Czar"
Part of the Trump Pardon series
In case you missed Trump’s pardons from February 2025, click here.
As I continue working on Trump’s pardon list, I find myself going down rabbit holes. I recently learned that he had created an unofficial role called “Pardon Czar.” I’m dropping this piece between the February and March releases because the appointment for this position came in late February.
I’m sure you’re thinking, “How come I’ve never heard of this title before?” Well, don’t worry, because it’s new. And yes, this is the first person to ever hold it.
Typically, the Office of the Pardon Attorney in the DOJ vets applications and makes recommendations. There are several layers of review and many eyes on these applications before they ever reach the president.
So with an established, formal process already in place, what’s the point of this new unofficial role? It shouldn’t surprise you that Trump wants to bypass the DOJ’s process entirely, which he has repeatedly described as flawed, slow, and overly rigid.
The pardon czar operates outside the DOJ, identifying candidates who may deserve relief and recommending those cases directly to the president. They work closely with a small inner circle, including the Chief of Staff and White House Counsel.
Importantly, the pardon czar has no actual legal authority to grant pardons; only the president can do that. Their power comes from influence and access, not law. There is also no formal application process. Instead, they seek out individuals and submit names directly to Trump. Those candidates can range from people serving long sentences for nonviolent crimes to individuals they believe were politically targeted.
By most accounts, the person in this role has had limited overall influence, though some referrals have resulted in pardons. The broader issue is that Trump has largely abandoned established norms. Of the roughly 1,600 people who followed the formal DOJ process, only about 10 have received pardons.
The big picture is that Trump has done all of this to circumvent the established system in order to help out political allies. With so few people receiving pardons through the official process, most petitions now largely depend on lobbying Trump or his inner circle directly. Anyone without access is simply being left behind.
Now let’s take a look at the first person tasked with this work.
Alice Marie Johnson was appointed by Trump on February 20, 2025.
A bit about her background: In the early ’90s, she became involved in a Memphis-based cocaine trafficking operation. In 1996, she was convicted in federal court on charges including conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and money laundering. At sentencing, the court attributed between 2,000 and 3,000 kilograms of cocaine to the overall conspiracy and described Johnson as an “entrepreneur” within the organization.
Because of mandatory-minimum sentencing laws and the drug quantities involved, she received life in prison without the possibility of parole, despite having no prior criminal record and being a nonviolent offender.
Johnson has maintained that she was not a drug dealer, never handled drugs, and was not a leader or “queenpin.” Instead, she claims she acted primarily as a “telephone mule,” passing along messages or relaying information for others involved in the operation.
She has listed her reasons for getting into this kind of work as losing her job, going through divorce, and the death of her son. During her time in prison, she maintained a clean record, became a mentor to other incarcerated women, and worked as a hospice volunteer.
Johnson served more than 21 years in federal prison. On June 6, 2018, President Donald Trump commuted her sentence, allowing her to walk free after more than two decades behind bars. Two years later, on August 28, 2020, Trump granted her a full presidential pardon, formally clearing her conviction.
I don’t claim to know what her actual role in the drug operation was. I’ve included several links below so you can dig into it yourself and form your own opinion. And given that this was a 1990s-era drug case, it’s fair to question how prosecutors viewed and charged these cases at the time.
Since taking on this role, she claims to have submitted 100 clemency petitions and helped almost 50 people gain their freedom. Those figures are her own, and as far as I can tell, there are no publicly available official numbers to confirm them.
Here are a few people she claims to have helped, or who have publicly thanked her: Todd and Julie Chrisley, Carlos Watson, and David Gentile. I’ll cover each of them in future pieces, but they share something in common; they’re all white-collar criminals. Fraudsters and cheats. These are not the kinds of people I imagine a “Pardon Czar” should be advocating for. I had envisioned something closer to low-level drug offenders serving absurdly long sentences.
She has also pushed for pardons for higher-level drug dealers and gang leaders, not cartel-level figures, but people running large-scale operations in major cities.
I like the idea of the type of work she should be doing, but I question her judgment with the people she has been recommending. And of course, this should all be part of the formal process with the DOJ.
This whole situation feels like an extension of Trump’s effort to reward political allies he deems worthy of a pardon. He has turned the pardon process into a mockery, and the creation of a pardon czar only helps him do it.
Thank you for reading and stay tuned for upcoming months for Trump’s pardons.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-pardons-clemency-george-santos-ed-martin
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/25/nx-s1-5307330/trump-pardon-czar-who-is-alice-marie-johnson
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/06/alice-johnson-kim-kardashian-trump-commutes-sentence-drugs
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/alice-marie-johnson-thanks-trump-for-second-chance-tells-fox-news-faith-kept-her-strong
https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/alice-marie-johnson-talks-about-her-life-sentence-getting
https://www.actionnews5.com/2025/02/24/mid-south-native-alice-marie-johnson-appointed-pres-trumps-pardon-czar/
https://abc17news.com/entertainment/cnn-entertainment/2025/05/28/todd-and-julie-chrisley-can-thank-their-daughter-savannah-chrisley-and-advocate-alice-johnson-for-their-pardons/
https://gvwire.com/2025/12/01/trump-frees-fraudster-just-days-into-7-year-prison-sentence/
https://chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdogs/2025/05/29/larry-hoover-gangster-disciples-mar-a-lago-donald-trump-chicago-drug-kingpin
It would be interesting to see that person’s financial records for the past year. I’m sure it would make for some interesting reading.
Learned something new again today. Frankly, these days I occasionally have a more difficult time seeing that as a blessing.