Politics in 2026 is moving fast. Like, breakneck speed. If you blinked yesterday, you probably missed a massive wave of executive actions coming out of the White House. People are constantly asking who did Trump pardon yesterday because the list just keeps growing, and frankly, it’s getting hard to keep track of the names.
Yesterday, January 15, 2026, was particularly busy. President Trump issued a flurry of 13 pardons and eight commutations. It wasn't just a random list of names, either. We’re talking about former governors, billionaire bankers, and even a woman who had already been shown mercy once before only to end up back in the system.
The big headline? Former Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced.
The Puerto Rico Connection: Wanda Vázquez and the Bribery Case
Wanda Vázquez Garced is a name you might remember from a few years back. She was the first former governor of Puerto Rico to ever face federal charges. It was a messy situation involving allegations of a bribery scheme centered around her 2020 campaign.
Basically, the feds claimed she accepted over $300,000 in illegal campaign donations from a Venezuelan-Italian banker named Julio Martin Herrera Velutini. In exchange? She was supposed to fire a local banking official who was breathing down the banker’s neck. Vázquez always maintained she was innocent, calling the whole thing "political persecution."
Well, yesterday, she got her pardon.
But she wasn't alone. Trump also cleared the records of her two co-defendants:
- Julio Martin Herrera Velutini: The billionaire banker who founded Britannia Financial Group.
- Mark Rossini: A former FBI agent who supposedly acted as the middleman in the deal.
The timing is definitely raising some eyebrows. Records show that Herrera Velutini’s daughter, Isabel, donated a total of $3.5 million to the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. over the last year. The White House is adamant that the donations had zero to do with the pardon. They say the case was just "lawfare" and that the investigation into Vázquez only started ten days after she endorsed Trump back in 2020.
The Curious Case of the 5-Hour Energy Reprieve
Then there’s Adriana Camberos. This one is a bit of a head-scratcher for some.
Trump actually commuted her sentence once before, right at the end of his first term in 2021. She had been involved in a weird scheme where 5-Hour Energy bottles meant for Mexico were diverted back to the U.S. with fake labels.
You’d think that would be the end of it. Nope.
In 2024, she and her brother, Andres, got busted again. This time it was for lying to manufacturers about where they were selling wholesale groceries. They claimed the goods were going to rehab facilities or Mexico, but they were actually flipping them to U.S. distributors for a profit. Yesterday, Trump decided to wipe the slate clean for her (and her brother) yet again.
Insider Trading and Health Care: Terren Peizer
Another name that popped up in the late-breaking news from yesterday was Terren Peizer.
He’s a businessman from California and Puerto Rico who headed a health care company called Ontrak. He wasn't exactly in for "small-time" stuff. He was convicted of insider trading—using non-public info to avoid losing more than $12.5 million. He was facing a 42-month prison sentence and a $5.25 million fine.
The pardon yesterday essentially erases that. Peizer had been making the argument that his prosecution was a result of government overreach. It seems the White House agreed.
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Why Does This Matter Right Now?
Look, whether you love the guy or hate him, the way Trump is using the pardon power in 2026 is unprecedented.
He has already surpassed the total number of clemencies granted by many of his predecessors. Some see it as a necessary correction against a "weaponized" Justice Department. Others, like Puerto Rico’s representative in Congress, Pablo José Hernández Rivera, say it "offends those of us who believe in honest government."
A Quick Look at the Numbers
- Total Pardons Yesterday: 13
- Total Commutations Yesterday: 8
- Notable Categories: Political allies, white-collar defendants, and donors.
The "Pardon Czar," Alice Marie Johnson, has been working overtime. Since Trump appointed her to the role in early 2025, the process has moved away from the traditional Department of Justice Pardon Attorney’s office—which, by the way, has seen its leadership entirely replaced with political appointees.
What’s Next if You’re Following This?
If you’re trying to stay on top of who did Trump pardon yesterday, you should know that the pace isn't slowing down. We are seeing a trend where individuals who claim they were targets of "political prosecutions" are getting their cases fast-tracked.
If you want to dig deeper into the actual legal documents, your best bet is to check the Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney website, though be warned: it often lags a few days behind the White House press releases.
Keep an eye on the news cycles for Friday afternoons. That’s usually when the "flurries" of pardons are announced to avoid the peak mid-week news cycle. If you have a specific name in mind, searching the federal inmate database or PACER (the court records system) can show you if a case has been suddenly closed or a sentence vacated due to executive clemency.
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The landscape of American justice is shifting. Whether it’s clearing the records of January 6th defendants or helping out a former governor from Puerto Rico, the use of the pardon power is clearly becoming a central tool of this administration's policy.
Next Steps for You:
- Check the official White House "Presidential Actions" page for the formal proclamations issued on January 15 and 16.
- Follow non-partisan trackers like Ballotpedia, which maintains a running list of executive orders and clemency actions for the 2025-2026 term.
- Monitor the FEC (Federal Election Commission) filings for any correlation between recent clemency recipients and political contributions.