Trump declines to pardon Lindsay Clancy, calls case a 'state situation'

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Monday, September 14, 2026

President Donald Trump says he won't pardon Lindsay Clancy, whose case has become the subject of national attention after she murdered her three children. The next steps remain uncertain following a mistrial.

When speaking with reporters Sunday, Trump was asked if a pardon for Lindsay Clancy was “under consideration.” The question comes less than a week after Clancy’s attorney, Kevin Reddington, urged Trump to pardon his client during an appearance on “Good Morning America.”

“It’s a very sad situation,” Trump said in response to the question about potentially pardoning Clancy. “There is no winner there. There’s … no win no matter what you do.”

Noting that “three children are dead,” Trump stressed that he did not have the authority to pardon her: “It’s actually a state situation … not a federal.”

In response to a follow-up question asking him if he would call the prosecutor, Trump stated, “I hope they can work it out,” while indicating that he appreciates that the attorney “feels that way.”

The judge overseeing the case declared a mistrial earlier this month after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. A court hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 29 to determine the next steps in the case. The possibility of another trial with a different jury looms large.

The Clancy case has emerged as a source of division in the U.S., with supporters insisting that Clancy should not bear responsibility for killing her three young children on Jan. 24, 2023 because she was suffering from postpartum depression. During his appearance on “Good Morning America” last week, Reddington praised his client as a “well-respected” labor and delivery nurse as well as an “incredible person.”

Reddington told “Good Morning America” that her experience with postpartum depression as well as her placement on medication by “a psychiatrist who had been practicing as a doctor for a month” caused her to kill her children in the Massachusetts home. He dismissed the idea that those defending Clancy are engaging in a “rationalization” of “plain evil.”

“These people don’t understand,” Reddington insisted. “They don’t know what she went through. They didn’t see her text messages. They didn’t see her journal. They didn’t see the notes that she wrote.”

Many see it as evidence of guilt that Clancy asked her husband to leave the house for takeout, ensuring he would not be around to stop her from committing the crimes.

In a previous interview with The Christian Post, pro-life activist Abby Johnson alleged that Clancy’s supporters are showing “misguided compassion.” According to Johnson, “I think that people are using their own experiences with postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis, and they’re linking it to what Clancy did and they’re saying ‘Oh, it could have been me.’”

“That’s actually not true; most women who have postpartum psychosis do not kill their children,” Johnson maintained. “Most women who are sympathizing with Clancy are not women who would have gone through the act of strangling three of their children.”