September 2026 batch of 30

THE LINK TO TRUMP’S ORBIT

The pardon czar announced thirty grants and named Emory Jones, a Roc Nation executive and longtime Jay-Z associate. The Justice Department lists Jones’s pardon separately, dated September 8, 2026, five days after the other 29; together they account for the thirty announced. Former Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer wrote on September 8 that she could identify only 11 of the 30 at the time. The Adamiak pardon was celebrated by the NRA.

WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS

The Ledger ran all thirty names against FEC contribution records for the 2024 and 2026 cycles. Twenty-seven have no filing of $2,500 or more; the three name-only matches could not be tied to the recipients and are not treated as links. The Ledger does not publish details of donors who merely share a recipient’s name.

The Justice Department list shows Jones was pardoned for conspiracy to distribute cocaine hydrochloride and cocaine base in the District of Maryland; it gives his sentencing date as October 15, 2000, and his sentence as 151 months’ imprisonment (as amended). The DOJ list is the primary record of all thirty grants.