# Lincoln's candlelight pardons > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Lincoln's candlelight pardons," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/lincolns-candlelight-pardons/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The historical contrast John Kiriakou drew while discussing a mass grant of clemency: stories of Abraham Lincoln staying up late into the night pardoning Civil War deserters by candlelight, on the principle that nobody should be executed for cowardice — set against a modern president who Kiriakou says has pardoned more people than anyone in American history, whenever the mood strikes him.* - **Lincoln's practice:** Staying awake at night signing pardons by candlelight - **Who they were:** Mostly Civil War deserters, facing execution - **His stated principle:** "No one should be executed for cowardice" - **Modern record:** More pardons than any president in American history - **Usual timing:** Between an election and an inauguration - **Departure Kiriakou notes:** Pardons issued any time the mood strikes Turning to a mass grant of clemency covering seventy-seven people, John Kiriakou began not with the recipients but with the constitutional power and its history. ## The starting point He conceded the authority without argument: the president has "the legal right, the constitutional right, to pardon anybody he wants."[1] ## Lincoln Then came the historical case. "There are stories about Abraham Lincoln staying up late into the night and pardoning people by candlelight," Kiriakou said — "mostly deserters, because to desert from your army unit in the Civil War was a death sentence. You were to be executed for that."[1] The principle he attributes to Lincoln is a single sentence: "he said that no one should be executed for cowardice."[1] So, in Kiriakou's account, "he would stay awake at night just signing pardons."[2] The image is doing specific work in the argument. Lincoln's pardons were individual, laborious, granted against a capital penalty and grounded in a stated moral rule. ## The modern comparison Against that, Kiriakou set two claims about the present. The first is volume: "No president has pardoned as many people in American history as [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump) has."[2] The second is timing. Most presidents, he said, "wait until the period between an election and an inauguration" — so that "between early November and January 20th, we usually see a flood of pardons."[2] This president, by contrast, "pardons people any time the mood strikes him."[3] ## The theory of what a pardon is for Kiriakou's objection is not to the numbers but to the fit. "Many of these people — some might even say most of these people — just aren't deserving of a pardon," he said, "if you look at why they were convicted of a crime in the first place."[3] He set out the model he thinks the power is meant to follow: "the whole idea of a pardon is that you've committed a crime, you've admitted to the crime, and then you've put your life on the right track — you've righted the ship."[3][4] On that test, he said, [Rudy Giuliani](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/rudy-giuliani) does not fit the category, "or many of these other people."[4] He noted separately that a federal pardon leaves state exposure untouched, and that in Giuliani's case a state prison remains a real possibility — whereas nobody in America believed he was ever going to a federal one. ## See also - [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump) - [Rudy Giuliani](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/rudy-giuliani) - [Pardons Nobody Asked For](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/pardons-nobody-asked-for) - [Kiriakou pardon request](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-pardon-request) - [Kiriakou's Abraham Lincoln collection](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abraham-lincoln-collection) ## Sources 1. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-10), at 30:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJAMwNGkkQ&t=1840s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-10-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/ 2. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-10), at 31:11. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJAMwNGkkQ&t=1871s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-10-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/ 3. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-10), at 31:41. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJAMwNGkkQ&t=1901s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-10-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/ 4. DeProgram (Ted Rall) (2025-11-10), at 32:15. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uJAMwNGkkQ&t=1935s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-10-deprogram-ted-rall-deprogram-ted-rall/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/lincolns-candlelight-pardons/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt