Trump renews call for Pete Rose pardon, saying MLB's all-time hits leader was 'mistreated'

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. He would pardon him for the federal tax charges he pleaded guilty to in April 1990.

Trump was alongside UFC CEO Dana White, who flew to Washington D.C. to meet with Trump and field questions from reporters. White was asked about Pete Rose first, and said he thought it was fair to pardon Rose.

Then Trump jumped in. He asked why Rose needed a pardon, before a reporter clarified that it was tax charges. "Oh, he did? I'd give Pete Rose a pardon," Trump responded. "I think Pete Rose was very mistreated."

Trump said Rose had 4,200-and-some-odd hits, way ahead of anyone else, a record that can't ever be broken. He was caught gambling, and now it's legal. But he was gambling on his own team, Trump said, not against it, and that is different.

Trump added that Rose shouldn't have done it, but he went through 40 years of hell. He said they should have given him a pardon and gotten him into the National Baseball Hall of Fame a long time ago. He spoke to the commissioner about it, and the commissioner agreed to do it, but then he waited, and Pete Rose died.

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 had never been given the option to vote for Rose, following 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." He said Pete Rose should have been in the Baseball Hall of Fame a long time ago, and that baseball did a 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. He said he had respect for the office and paid attention to the advice, but that a lot of other people were weighing in too.

Rose died last September at the age of 83 from hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Nicknamed "Charlie Hustle" for his relentless drive 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.

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 or gambling winnings.

Manfred denied a reinstatement application 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 as well, but Manfred denied both requests.

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.