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CNN 5 Things

One Thing: Unpacking Trump’s Second Term Pardon Spree

CNN 5 Things

CNN

Daily News, News

4.31.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 November 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

President Donald Trump has pardoned more than 1,600 people who played significant roles in matters involving him personally across his two terms, including dozens who worked to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Presidents always flex pardon power, so what makes these so unusual? We hear from a constitutional law expert who says part of the answer lies in the man in charge of the review process.  For more: Trump’s pardons aren’t just political; more importantly, they’re transactional  ---  Guest: Kim Wehle, former Assistant US Attorney  Host: David Rind  Producer: Paola Ortiz  Showrunner: Felicia Patinkin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is one thing. I'm David Rind. And what happens when a president starts handing out, get out of jail free cards to his friends?

0:08.5

The question with the Constitution and the pardon power is where are the tickets for speeding through it?

0:13.5

Is anyone going to issue the ticket for speeding? And I think Donald Trump knows no one will.

0:18.4

Stick with us.

0:26.6

All right. We do have breaking news in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. In case you missed it, the Jeffrey Epstein drama is back in full force in Washington.

0:32.6

These are emails that show Jeffrey Epstein mentioning Donald Trump by name multiple times and private

0:38.7

correspondence that he had with people, including Galane Maxwell, obviously his longtime associate

0:44.2

and accomplice, and also the author. These emails have sparked new questions about what President

0:49.7

Trump knew and when, although we should say he has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection

0:54.8

with Epstein and has always denied involvement in the notorious convicted sex offenders' crimes.

1:00.5

But the emails also appear to undercut what Galane Maxwell told a Justice Department official

1:05.6

over the summer that she never saw Trump at Epstein's house and downplayed their relationship.

1:13.6

Now Maxwell has well-established credibility problems, but she has since been moved to a lower security prison camp,

1:16.6

not the usual home for convicted sex offenders.

1:19.6

So all of that has led some to ask the White House,

1:22.6

if the president is considering a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell.

1:25.6

Again, he's answered this repeatedly. It's not something he's talking about or even thinking about at this moment in time. I can assure you of that, Stephen. But that's not an unreasonable question. If you just look at the pardon spree, Trump has been on lately. In a second term so far marked by controversial pardons, today we learned that President Trump granted one to a man whose company helped enrich the Trump family to the tune of billions. The pardon was for this man,

1:49.5

Shang-Peng Xiao, the convicted co-founder of the crypto exchange Binance. Breaking this morning, they were

1:54.6

accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election results in President Trump's favor, and now he is

2:00.2

rewarding them. Rudy Giuliani,

2:02.0

Sidney Powell, and Mark Meadows, among the Trump allies receiving pardons overnight.

2:07.0

Between his two terms, Trump has now pardoned more than 1,6, 150 people who played significant

...

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