Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 189

Navigating the Nonsense

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Trial Balloon · Ep. 189: Navigating the Nonsense

Trump’s Pardons Cost At Least $1.5 Billion

July 4, 2025 · 2:45 pm ET · Leave a Comment

President Trump’s pardons and commutations have cost more than $100 million in fines owed to the federal government and another $1.5 billion in restitution to victims, Forbes reports.

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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.