pardon

He even sought a pardon at the end of Trump’s first term.

Donald Trump has promised to pardon some of the rioters, although he has not made clear what criteria he would use to do so.

He has advocated for privatising the US government's agency that aids veterans, but his greatest political success in Washington was during Trump's first term when he convinced the then-president to pardon several US service members accused of war crimes.

According to CBS News, Gaetz had asked Trump for a pre-emptive pardon for any related crimes prior to the president leaving office in January 2021.

On his Fox show, Hegseth also vigorously protested the prosecutions of soldiers for war crimes, even to the point of persuading Trump, while he was president, to pardon two perpetrators of particularly heinous murders of civilians.