Commute the sentence of "Silk Road" website operator Ross Ulbricht
Donald Trump
“If you vote for me, on day one I will commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht.”
MAGA-Meter: Trump's Second Term

Promise Kept
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Within the first days of his second term in office, President Donald Trump began fulfilling several promises he made on the campaign trail — from pardoning Jan. 6, 2021, rioters to pulling the United States out of the Paris climate agreement.
One of his latest moves was pardoning Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, fulfilling a promise he made in May at the Libertarian National Convention. At the time, Trump was courting Libertarian voters for their support and vowed to commute Ulbricht's life imprisonment, which would reduce his sentence but not erase the conviction.
The pardon follows up on one of 75 campaign promises that PolitiFact will track on the MAGA-Meter. Over the next four years, we will periodically evaluate the new administration's progress on Trump's 2024 campaign promises, just as we did with Barack Obama, Trump during his first term, and Joe Biden.
Trump said on Truth Social that he gave Ulbricht a "full and unconditional pardon," adding that the founder of the dark web marketplace was convicted by "some of the same lunatics who were involved in the modern day weaponization of government against me."
The dark web is a part of the internet hosted within an encrypted network and accessible only through specialized anonymity-providing tools.
Trump's pardon reversed all seven of Ulbricht's convictions, including conspiring to traffic in false identity documents, distributing narcotics and engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.
Ulbricht, 40, received a life sentence without the possibility of parole in 2015 for creating Silk Road, an online marketplace that sold illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Prosecutors called Ulbricht "the kingpin of a worldwide digital drug-trafficking enterprise" and accused him of ordering the deaths of people he saw as threats to his business, The New York Times reported.
Silk Road's creation aligned with Ulbricht's idea of wanting to create a free marketplace that used "economic theory as a means to abolish the use of coercion and aggression amongst mankind," according to his LinkedIn profile.
Ulbricht's philosophy aligned with those of Libertarians, who value individual liberties and limited government.
Libertarian activists have spent years since his conviction advocating for Ulbricht's release. They claimed he wasn't a criminal mastermind or drug kingpin, but that he was a "peaceful and gentle man" unfairly targeted by the government.
Trump reportedly considered granting clemency to Ulbricht in 2020, but did not do so before he lost the presidential election to Joe Biden.
The 2024 election renewed hopes to free him as Angela McArdle, chair of the Libertarian Party, met with Trump in late-2023 where she told the then-former president that Ulbricht was the "victim of prosecutorial overreach and a biased criminal justice system," similar to claims Trump made about his own court cases, The New York Times reported.
Ulbricht's pardon exceeded Trump's initial declaration on the campaign trail of commuting his sentence. We rate this Promise Kept.
PolitiFact, "Trump pardons people convicted of Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot offenses," Jan. 20, 2025
PolitiFact, "Trump signs order to leave Paris climate agreement," Jan. 22, 2025
The New York Times, "Trump Pardons Creator of Silk Road Drug Marketplace," Jan. 21, 2025
NBC News, "Trump booed and jeered at Libertarian National Convention," May 25, 2024
PolitiFact, "Fact-checking President Donald Trump's Inauguration Day speeches," Jan. 20, 2025
Donald Trump, Truth Social post, Jan. 22, 2025
U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Pardon Attorney, Ross William Ulbricht pardon, Jan. 21, 2025
The New York Times, "Ross Ulbricht, Creator of Silk Road Website, Is Sentenced to Life in Prison," May 29, 2015
NPR, "Trump pardons Ross Ulbricht, creator of the Silk Road dark web marketplace," Jan. 21, 2025
Free Ross, Who is Ross Ulbricht, Jan. 23, 2025
The Daily Beast, "Trump Is Considering Clemency for Silk Road Founder," Dec. 15 2020
The New York Times, "How Trump Was Persuaded to Pardon an Online Drug Kingpin," Jan. 22, 2025