President Trump’s White House is weighing preemptive pardons that could protect thousands of staffers from Democratic investigations after the midterms, a step he links to Biden’s own clemency record.

White House attorneys are examining extraordinary preemptive pardons for administration officials who carried out the president’s agenda, according to a Saturday report that has drawn fresh comments from Trump himself.

The discussions center on fears that Democrats could launch a wave of federal investigations if they regain leverage after next month’s midterm elections. The aim would be group protections for people involved in sensitive areas such as immigration enforcement, trade, and military operations, not a blanket free pass for every junior employee.

Daily Mail reporting described the White House review and noted that no mass-pardon plan has been publicly confirmed. Trump spoke with reporters the same day and left the door open while insisting he holds the authority.

“Well, I haven't thought of it, but I will tell you, it would be very unfair to go through what we went through for four years with the corrupt weaponization that took place,” Trump said.

"So, in light of what Biden did, as you know, Biden shielded many people...Certainly, I haven't thought about it, but certainly I'd be allowed to."

He added that he does not want “innocent people” dragged through years of legal bills. Standing nearby was White House aide Margo Martin. Trump turned to her and said, “Margo, you're not going to have to worry about it, OK?” He did not explicitly promise a pardon or spell out exactly what he meant.

Biden’s late-term pardons set the precedent Trump now cites

Trump repeatedly pointed to actions taken by Joe Biden before leaving office. Biden issued preemptive pardons to several family members, Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, and members of the congressional committee that investigated January 6.

In Trump’s view, that record makes any future Democratic pursuit of his own staff look selective. “I certainly don't want to see innocent people go through h*** and lose all their money,” he said. Earlier this month on Newsmax he struck the same note: he does not want people who work for him to “go through years of nonsense, hire lawyers, and everything else.”

“I'm allowed to pardon,” Trump told reporters. He also projected confidence about the administration’s record, saying that at the end of two and a half years “we will have done things that nobody's ever done.”

The possibility first surfaced publicly in April, when the Wall Street Journal reported Trump was considering broad protections for staff. Then-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the suggestion that the idea was a joke and stressed that “the president's pardon power is absolute.”

Prior clemency decisions show how far the power already reaches

Trump has used the pardon and commutation power extensively. In 2020 he pardoned former national security adviser Michael Flynn after Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the Russia investigation. That December he pardoned longtime confidant Roger Stone, who had been convicted of obstructing a congressional probe, witness tampering, and lying to Congress.

In the final hours of his first term he pardoned former White House strategist Steve Bannon, clearing federal fraud charges tied to a border-wall fundraising effort. He later granted pardons or commutations to roughly 1,500 people connected to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

More recently, in October 2025, he commuted the prison sentence of former GOP congressman George Santos, freeing him less than three months into a term for fraud and identity theft. He also pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced to 45 years on drug-trafficking and weapons charges. Trump said the people of Honduras “really thought he was set up, and it was a terrible thing.”

Those moves sit alongside other high-profile clemency cases that have drawn both praise and criticism from different sides of the aisle. Readers following the pattern will recall separate reporting on a Venezuelan banker who received a Trump pardon after his family retained a well-known attorney, another episode that kept the clemency debate alive.

Preemptive pardons already issued for 2020 election allies

The current staff discussion is not the first time this White House has reached for preemptive protection. National Review reported that Trump granted full, complete, and unconditional preemptive pardons to Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, Boris Epshteyn, Kenneth Chesebro, and 77 others for conduct related to the 2020 election.

None of those recipients had been convicted of federal crimes. The proclamation covered advice, creation, organization, execution, submission, support, voting, or advocacy for any slate of presidential electors in connection with the 2020 contest. The order did not cover Trump himself.

"I, DONALD J. TRUMP, do hereby grant a full, complete, and unconditional pardon to all United States citizens for conduct relating to the advice, creation, organization, execution, submission, support, voting, activities in, or advocacy for or of any slate of presidential electors... in connection with the 2020 Presidential Election," the pardon proclamation reads.

That earlier sweep shows the administration is willing to use the tool broadly when it believes political retaliation is coming. It also underscores the difference between federal criminal exposure and every other form of pressure.

Pardons stop federal charges, not every form of scrutiny

Legal voices on the left quickly noted the limits. Janai Nelson, president of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, wrote Saturday that pardons “do not provide absolute immunity.” Recipients could still face state prosecutions, civil lawsuits, and professional sanctions. Congressional investigations would also continue; a presidential pardon does not block subpoenas or public hearings.

Democratic Rep. Mike Levin has backed a constitutional amendment that would restrict presidential clemency and bar presidents from pardoning themselves. He argues presidents of both parties have misused the authority. Changing the Constitution would require two-thirds support in both chambers of Congress and ratification by three-quarters of the states, a high bar that has not been met.

Those constraints matter. They mean even a sweeping preemptive order would leave staff exposed to state attorneys general, civil litigants, and Capitol Hill. The White House review appears focused on the federal criminal risk that staff fear most after years of high-profile investigations.

Separate pardon requests continue to surface from unexpected corners. One recent case involved an attorney asking Trump for relief he cannot legally grant in a state matter, a reminder that the constitutional power has clear outer edges even when the political pressure is intense.

Staff anxiety meets midterm calendar

The timing is deliberate. Midterm elections are next month. If Democrats improve their position, the White House expects investigations aimed at immigration policy, trade actions, and military decisions. Trump has framed the entire episode as a response to what he calls four years of weaponization against him and his circle.

He has also used the pardon power in ways that frustrate opponents and sometimes allies. After one recent grant he publicly labeled a recipient a “loser” for remaining a Democrat, a moment captured in coverage of how Trump brands Cuellar after the decision. The pattern is consistent: he treats clemency as both a legal shield and a political statement.

Even Michael Cohen, once a fierce critic, has been reported chasing a pardon while calling Trump “boss,” another sign that the power remains a live topic across old battle lines. The staff discussions now under review fit the same larger story, a president determined not to leave his people exposed to what he sees as selective justice.

Daily Mail reached out to the White House for additional comment. As of the latest reporting, no formal list of names or draft proclamation for the broader staff plan has been released. The conversations remain at the attorney-review stage, with Trump publicly uncommitted yet clearly unwilling to rule the idea out.

Voters who watched Biden’s preemptive pardons for family, Fauci, Milley, and the January 6 committee members already saw one standard applied on the way out the door. Trump is signaling he will not leave his own team as the only side that faces years of subpoenas and legal bills for doing the job they were hired to do.