Trump declines appeal to pardon mother accused of killing three children

Lindsay Clancy looks on as jurors (out of frame) enter the courtroom during Clancy's murder trial at the Plymouth County Superior Court in Plymouth, Massachusetts, on September 4, 2026. CREDIT: AFP

US President Donald Trump has said he will not intervene in the case of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts woman accused of killing her three young children.

Clancy, 36, faces three counts of first-degree murder over the January 2023 deaths of her children, Cora, five, Dawson, three, and eight-month-old Callan.

Trump made his position known on Sunday when asked whether he would pardon Clancy, whose lawyer had publicly appealed to him to intervene.

“It’s a very sad situation.

“There is no winner there. There is no win no matter what you do. Three children are dead. So, I don’t know. It’s actually a state situation, you know, not a federal,” Trump said.

Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, had asked Trump last week to pardon his client, while acknowledging that the President does not have the authority to pardon someone convicted of a state offence.

Trump said the case should be resolved at the state level and praised Reddington as a good lawyer.

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“He’s a good attorney. I’ve heard from other people he’s a very good attorney.

“I hope they can work it out. That’s something they have to work out … There is no win there,” Trump said.

Clancy’s defence has argued that she suffered from postpartum psychosis, a severe psychiatric condition that can cause a loss of contact with reality after childbirth.

After the deaths of her children, Clancy attempted suicide and suffered injuries that left her paralysed.

Her first trial ended in a mistrial earlier this month after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict following a week of deliberations.

The jury was reportedly split 11-1, with 11 jurors favouring an acquittal on the grounds that Clancy was not criminally responsible for the killings.