According to court documents the DOJ has spent months investigating a “bribery-for-pardon scheme,” even as President Donald Trump was running for reelection.
Obama gave 1715 commutations (including 504 life sentences) and 212 pardons. Whereas Trump commuted about 20, and pardoned about 30. You tell me who is more loosey-goosy with the pardons.
Pew have done the research;
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/24/so-far-trump-has-granted-clemency-less-frequently-than-any-president-in-modern-history/"While rare so far, Trump’s use of presidential clemency has caused controversy because of the nature of his pardons and commutations.
Many of Trump’s clemency recipients have had a “personal or political connection to the president,” according to a July analysis by the Lawfare blog, and
he has often circumvented the formal process through which clemency requests are typically considered.
But Trump is far from the only president who has faced scrutiny over his use of clemency. Obama’s frequent use of commutations ...
his administration encouraged federal prisoners to apply for leniency under a program known as the Clemency Initiative. The program, which launched in April 2014 and ended in 2017 when Obama left office, allowed “qualified federal inmates” –
those who met certain Justice Department criteria – to apply to have their prison sentences commuted. The initiative led to a surge in petitions and helps explain why Obama’s use of clemency tilted so heavily toward sentence commutations, rather than pardons."
Overall, Obama received more than 36,000 clemency petitions during his time in office, by far the largest total of any president on record. Petitions have declined considerably during Trump’s tenure."