Columnist explains why Trump is unsurpassed in abusing the pardon powers
Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a campaign rally at the Prescott Valley Event Center in Prescott Valley, Arizona
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ
President Donald Trump is hardly the first U.S. president to draw criticism for the presidential pardons he has granted, but it is safe to say that Trump's pardons have been especially controversial â for example, the ones he announced on Tuesday, December 22, including pardons for Blackwater employees jailed for killing Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007. The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus, in an op-ed published the following day, lays out some reasons why Trump's pardons have been especially egregious.