Trump Grants Clemency to 30 People, Including Jay-Z Associate Emory Jones

President Trump granted clemency this week to 30 people, White House "pardon czar" Alice Marie Johnson announced Sept. 4, including Emory Jones, a longtime associate of Jay-Z who served nearly 16 years in federal prison on drug charges. Jones was released in 2010 after Jay-Z wrote a letter to a judge seeking a sentence reduction; he now works as a Roc Nation executive and co-founded the Paper Planes clothing brand. Johnson said Trump acted Thursday. The New York Times reported other recipients include a former Philadelphia union boss convicted of bribery and an ex-Navy sailor imprisoned for firearms offenses. Trump has now granted pardons or commutations to more than 1,700 people since January 2025.

The grant extends a well-documented pattern in which clemency under this administration has gone disproportionately to people with celebrity, donor or political connections processed outside the normal Pardon Attorney channel, while thousands of standard applications from unconnected federal prisoners remain denied.

The clemency grants are final and not subject to further review.