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Presidential Clemency Record

John Dougherty

Commutation

  /   2025–Present

Record at a Glance

Clemency type
Commutation
Presidential term
2025–Present
Federal district
Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Offense
Conspiracy to embezzle labor union and employee benefit plan assets; embezzlement of labor union assets (33 counts); wire fraud (24 counts); falsification of labor union annual reporting (two counts); falsification of labor union financial records (two counts); making and subscribing to false federal income tax returns (four counts); conspiracy to commit honest services fraud and federal program bribery; honest services wire fraud (seven counts)
Sentence
72 months' imprisonment; three years' supervised release, conditioned upon 100 hours' community service (July 11, 2024)
Current status
Dougherty’s September 2026 commutation ordered his immediate release and ended the remaining federal fine, restitution, probation, and other conditions. It did not pardon the convictions. The chronology contains no later professional role or separate legal proceeding.

Original Case

Dougherty was convicted in separate federal trials of public-corruption and Local 98 union-fund offenses. The July 11, 2024 DOJ sentencing release identifies the final count inventory, including conspiracy and seven honest-services wire-fraud counts, plus conspiracy to embezzle, 33 embezzlement counts, 24 wire-fraud counts, reporting/records offenses, and false tax returns. He received 72 months' imprisonment, three years' supervised release, $353,941.35 forfeiture, a $7,100 assessment, and $50,000 restitution then, with full restitution still to be determined.

Clemency

September 3, 2026: immediate commutation of the entire sentence to time served, with no further fines, restitution, probation, or other conditions, for the specified federal case. This was a commutation, not a pardon.

Trump Connection

Dougherty was a powerful Philadelphia union leader with longstanding ties to Democratic politics, not an obvious Trump ally. Trump erased the remaining custodial and financial sentence, but the public record names no intermediary, personal relationship, or specific presidential rationale. The grant can be described precisely; its political origin remains undisclosed.

Sources

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