“That toughness is clearly deeply selective.”

 By 

Sam Haysom

Sam Haysom is the General Assignment Editor, UK, for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time.

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 on June 1, 2026

Donald Trump is a big fan of pardons — and not always using the Department of Justice’s review process — but is he using his presidential power to offer clemency wisely?

As John Oliver explains in the Last Week Tonight video above, the answer appears to be a firm no. In the 30 minute clip, the host breaks down multiple examples of Trump-issued pardons that have been either harmful or questionable, from the president pardoning Jan. 6 rioters who went on to commit further crimes to the same for Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, whose company has since gone on to partner with Trump family crypto venture World Liberty Financial.

Despite Trump claiming to be tough on crime, as Oliver points out, “that toughness is clearly deeply selective.

“He’ll happily put violent people and fraudsters right back on the streets to victimise people again just because they support him,” the host says.

“I know it is not news that America has a two-tiered justice system, but this is taking it to an absurd extreme. The way we’re going right now we may well end up at a point where we don’t so much have a system of laws, as much as we just have a guy. And if you’re on that guy’s team, you basically get to commit crimes. But the thing is, that’s just not the social contract any of us signed up for.”

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Sam Haysom is the General Assignment Editor, UK, for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time.

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