Trump renews call for Pete Rose pardon, saying MLB's all-time hits leader was 'mistreated'
Trump said he would pardon Pete Rose for federal tax charges, calling MLB's all-time hits leader "very mistreated" during a meeting with Dana White.
President Donald Trump is back saying he would pardon Major League Baseball’s all-time hits leader, the late Pete Rose, but not just for his gambling scandal that has him out of the National Baseball Hall of Fame to begin with.
He would’ve pardoned him in his capacity for federal tax charges he pleaded guilty to in April 1990.
Trump was alongside UFC CEO Dana White, whom the 47th president said he was "only kidding" about making his new press secretary on Truth Social over the weekend. Nonetheless, White flew to Washington D.C. to meet with Trump and field questions from reporters.
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He was asked about Pete Rose first, with the reporter referencing Trump’s consideration to pardon the baseball great in the past.
"I don’t advise the president on anything ever, but yeah, I think it’s fair. I think it’s fair to pardon Pete Rose. Yes," White responded.
Then, Trump jumped in.
"By the way, why does he need a pardon? He was not really convicted of a criminal – " Trump said before he was cut off by the reporter to provide clarity.
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"It was tax charges, sir," the reporter said.
"Oh, he did? I’d give Pete Rose a pardon," Trump responded. "I think Pete Rose was very mistreated. He had 4,200-and-some-odd hits, way ahead of anyone else. A record that can’t ever be broken. And he was caught gambling, and now it’s legal. But he was gambling on his own team, Dana. He wasn’t gambling against [his team] – that’s different.
"He was gambling. He shouldn’t have done it, but he went through 40 years of hell and they should be giving him a pardon. They should be getting him into the [National] Baseball Hall of Fame a long time ago. I spoke to the commissioner about it. He agreed to do it, and then he waited though, and Pete Rose died. So, it didn’t help him too much, but I would give Pete Rose a pardon. I would do that."
In March 2025, Trump took to Truth Social to say he would be "signing a complete pardon" of Rose, who had died the previous year before ever seeing himself in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Writers, though, had never been given the option to vote in the man with the most hits in MLB history (4,256) with the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) and Hall of Fame following suit with the league’s lifetime ban of Rose in 1989 for gambling.
But commissioner Rob Manfred lifted that ban of Rose and several other players posthumously from the ineligible list in May 2025, allowing the possibility for those players to be voted in. That has yet to happen.
Speaking with reporters back in May, Trump suggested Rose’s absence from the Hall was a "disservice."
"I think Pete Rose should have been in the Baseball Hall of Fame a long time ago," Trump said. "I think baseball did a great disservice by not respecting his achievements on the field."
Manfred admitted at an owners meeting in 2025 that Trump’s support for Rose was one of the many factors that went into the decision to lift him from the ineligible list.
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"The president was one of a number of voices that was supportive of the idea that this was the right decision," Manfred said in May 2025. "Obviously, I have respect for the office, and the advice that he gave I paid attention to, but I had a lot of other people that were weighing in on the topic as well."
Major League Baseball itself does not control who gets into the Hall of Fame; the baseball writers vote initially, while other committees to get players in further down the road are made by the Hall itself, not the league.
Rose died last September at the age of 83 from hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
Nicknamed "Charlie Hustle" for his relentless drive when on the diamond, Rose was league MVP in 1973, a 17-time All-Star, three-time batting title winner, Rookie of the Year and World Series MVP.
Despite his 4,256 career hits, he became a polarizing figure when the news of his gambling on baseball rocked the sports world.
Rose tried to apply for reinstatement to Major League Baseball on several occasions but was always denied. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred denied one in 2015, saying that Rose did not take responsibility for his actions and didn’t understand the damage he had caused while betting on the game.
Rose applied for reinstatement in 2020 and 2022, especially with legalized sports betting happening across the country. However, Manfred denied both requests, pointing to the Veteran’s Committee for any Hall of Fame discussions regarding Rose. Manfred also shot down any speculation about Rose’s reinstatement in 2023, as the league had partnerships with sportsbooks.
Though he isn't in the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Reds inducted Rose into their own hall of fame in 2016, retiring his No. 14. He made several appearances in MLB ballparks in recent years before his death.
In April 1990, Rose pleaded guilty to two felony counts of filing false federal income returns, covering tax years in 1985 and 1987. He admitted to underreporting more than $300,000 in earnings from personal appearances, autograph sessions, memorabilia sales and horseracing/gambling winnings.
Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.
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