Trump's pardons cost government $1.5 billion: expert

The massive number of pardons and clemencies President Donald Trump has issued during his second term has cost the federal government at least $1.5 billion in penalty payments, according to one expert.

Liz Oyer, a former pardon attorney at the Department of Justice, estimated in a new Substack essay on Tuesday that the more than 1,600 pardons and clemencies Trump has granted have caused the government to forfeit more than $1.56 billion in fines, restitution, and forfeitures. That included the more than 1,500 pardons he issued to people for crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and the dozens of people involved in the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.

For comparison, Oyer noted that the 80 people former President Joe Biden pardoned or commuted during his term cost the government less than $1 million in total penalty payments.

"I also note that, most of the convictions of Biden’s pardon recipients were quite dated compared to the convictions pardoned by Trump," she wrote. "It is therefore much more likely that their financial obligations had been paid prior to the pardon and that the sums will not be returned."

Read Oyer's entire analysis by clicking here.