Donald Trump has treated the justice system less like a neutral institution and more like a customer rewards program: commit crimes for him, get upgraded to First Class; oppose him, enjoy a surprise visit from federal prosecutors.
On the “friends” side of the ledger, Trump famously pardoned Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Steve Bannon — all either central to the Mueller probe or closely tied to his political machine. [ABC][PBS] (ABC News) He also swooped in for Joe Arpaio, the sheriff found guilty of criminal contempt for ignoring a court order to stop racially profiling Latinos, short-circuiting accountability with a stroke of the pen. [NYT][Gdn] (Wikipedia)
In his second term, the volume knob broke clean off: more than 1,800 clemency grants, including large numbers of January 6 rioters and assorted political allies, many issued outside the normal vetting process that’s supposed to prevent this from becoming, well, exactly this. [Gdn][Scholar] (The Guardian) He’s even pardoned recently indicted politicians like Rep. Henry Cuellar while loudly calling their prosecutions “weaponized” — right up until he’s the one doing the weaponizing. [Reuters] (Reuters)
Meanwhile, enemies don’t get mercy; they get memos. As president, Trump repeatedly pushed the DOJ to go after Hillary Clinton and James Comey, asking advisers why he couldn’t just order prosecutions and having White House counsel warn him that was the kind of thing that gets you impeached. [NYT][Reuters] (Reuters) He leaned on prosecutors to chase John Kerry under a centuries-old Logan Act almost nobody uses, after tweeting angrily about Kerry’s Iran contacts like a guy live-subtweeting his own abuse of power. [WaPo][BI] (The Washington Post)
By 2025, the subtext became text: Trump’s DOJ brought criminal cases against long-time critics James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, after installing a loyalist prosecutor with no prior experience — only to have a federal judge toss both indictments because her appointment was unconstitutional. [Reuters][Politico] (Wikipedia) It’s like trying to weaponize the Justice Department and accidentally shooting yourself in the Appointments Clause.
So when Trump screams that other people have “weaponized” law enforcement, remember his actual model: justice as a loyalty test — amnesty for allies, investigations for enemies, and the rule of law left somewhere on the cutting room floor.
References
- [ABC] ABC News, coverage of Trump’s final-night pardons for Bannon, Manafort, Stone and others, Jan. 19–20, 2021. (ABC News)
- [PBS] PBS NewsHour, reporting on Trump’s final clemency flurry and pardons of political allies, Jan. 20, 2021. (PBS)
- [NYT] Summarized in Just Security/official records on Trump’s demand to prosecute Clinton and Comey and reporting on the Arpaio pardon. (Just Security)
- [Gdn] The Guardian, commentary on Trump’s Arpaio pardon and reporting on his 1,800+ clemencies, including many Jan. 6 defendants, 2017 & 2025. (The Guardian)
- [Reuters] Reuters, reports on Trump wanting DOJ to prosecute Clinton/Comey (2018) and on 2025 prosecutions/pardons involving Letitia James, James Comey, and Rep. Henry Cuellar. (Reuters)
- [WaPo] Washington Post analysis of Trump’s push to prosecute John Kerry under the Logan Act, May 2019. (The Washington Post)
- [Politico] Politico, coverage of DOJ debating whether to re-indict Comey and Letitia James after a judge threw out their Trump-era cases, Dec. 2025. (Politico)
- [Scholar] Legal scholarship on Trump’s chaotic and norm-breaking use of the pardon power. (Chicago Unbound)