President Donald Trump has an answer ready for anyone who ever worked for him and lands in a Democratic prosecutor’s sights — a pardon, signed before a single charge is filed.
Democrats swept both chambers of Congress in the Nov. 3, 2026, midterm elections, delivering the exact outcome Trump had said would push him to grant preemptive pardons to his staff and allies.
By Wednesday, Nov. 4, with some races still uncalled, Democrats had won majorities in both the House and the Senate and were set to hold a majority of the nation’s governorships for the first time in 16 years.
Trump made the promise on a “Pod Force One” episode with New York Post columnist Miranda Devine, released Monday, Nov. 2, the day before voters went to the polls. Devine asked whether he would grant the pardons. “I would if I needed to. Sure,” Trump said.
“I Did It for J6”
Devine pressed him on whether the coverage would extend to everyone who had worked for him — anyone from his administration, pardoned before a prosecutor filed anything. “I’d do it. I did it for J6,” Trump said. On his first day back in office in 2025, he pardoned roughly 1,500 defendants charged over the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
He also pointed to a Democratic precedent, the pardons Joe Biden issued in his final hours in the Oval Office. “That’s what Biden did. He gave everybody a pardon,” Trump said. Those grants covered Dr. Anthony Fauci, Gen. Mark Milley, the members and staff of the House Jan. 6 committee — “a corrupt committee,” in Trump’s words — and several relatives, including his son Hunter.
Devine raised proposals circulating on the left to investigate Elon Musk, seize assets and nationalize pieces of his business empire, up to arresting the world’s richest man. Some have floated targeting staffers from the Department of Government Efficiency, among them Edward Coristine, the aide known as “Big Balls.”
“It won’t happen. It’s talk. But if it is talk, we’ll have to protect them,” Trump said. Asked whether he himself would end up in Democratic crosshairs, he answered, “Well, I don’t know about me.” He named no intended recipients, announced no completed pardons and left the offenses a blanket grant would cover unspecified.
Slotkin Wants Graduates Thinking Twice
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., told an audience at a University of Chicago event in October 2026 that a Democratic majority should bring signature cases against the president’s enablers, not just the president, so that college graduates think twice about taking a job in his administration. “I want that deterrence message,” she said.
In a post on X, Slotkin called for accountability for anyone who helps misuse taxpayer dollars to benefit the president or his family, or who breaks the law carrying out his guidance, noting that the Supreme Court’s immunity went to the president and not to those acting at his behest.
No Shield Against State Prosecutors
Clemency reaches only federal criminal exposure. It is no defense against a state prosecution, a civil lawsuit or impeachment, and congressional investigators keep their own tools. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has said a Democratic House could use its subpoena power to examine “pay-to-play pardons.” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become speaker.
The Polls He Called “Rigged”
Pre-election surveys put Democrats within reach of flipping both the House and the Senate. Trump called those polls “rigged,” pointing to the size of his rally crowds instead and arguing that Republicans were outrunning expectations. He floated vetoes alongside the pardon talk as both parties prepared for the arithmetic of a possible split government. “We’ll know on Tuesday night,” he said.
Majorities of voters disapproved of his handling of the economy, tariffs, gas prices and the Iran war. The Times reported that he privately vented his frustration at aides over polling information, which a White House official disputed.
In an election-night phone interview with The New York Times on Tuesday, Nov. 3, Trump said he was “absolutely willing” to accept the results. “We’ll, you know, look forward to working with them,” he told the newspaper of the new Democratic majority.
He struck a different note on Truth Social that night. “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” he posted. In a separate post, he added: “I’m going to become a Political Pundit, both good and bad, on the reasons these Candidates won and lost!”
