President Donald Trump announced via tweet on Thursday that he would be giving a full presidential pardon to conservative media commentator Dinesh D’Souza, declaring he was “treated very unfairly by our government!”
Here’s a look at Trump’s other pardons and commutations so far:
JOE ARPAIO
In his first use of his presidential pardon power, Trump spared former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio the prospect of serving jail time after a conviction stemming from his use of immigration patrols that focused on Latinos.
The White House said 85-year-old Arpaio, a top Trump supporter during the 2016 campaign, was a “worthy candidate” for the pardon, citing his “life’s work of protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal immigration.”
The pardon in August 2017 came less than a month after a judge found Arpaio guilty of a misdemeanor contempt-of-court charge in a trial that was prosecuted by the president’s own Justice Department.
Arpaio had defied court orders that he stop the patrols so that he could promote his immigration enforcement efforts in a bid to boost his successful 2012 re-election campaign.
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SHOLOM RUBASHKIN
In late 2017, Trump commuted the sentence of an Iowa kosher meatpacking executive who had been sentenced to 27 years in prison for money laundering.
Sholom Rubashkin was convicted in 2009 of submitting fake invoices to a bank that made his family business’s finances appear healthier than they were so they could borrow more. The 57-year-old father of 10 had served more than eight years of his sentence at the time.
The decision to intervene on Rubashkin’s behalf came at the urging of numerous members of Congress and a long list of high-ranking law enforcement officials, who argued the sentence was too harsh for a first-time, nonviolent offender.
The action did not vacate Rubashkin’s conviction.
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KRISTIAN SAUCIER
Trump in March pardoned Kristian Saucier, a U.S. Navy sailor, who served a year in federal prison after taking photos of classified portions of a submarine.
Trump often mentioned Saucier on the campaign trail as he criticized his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, for her use of a private email server. In a January tweet, he criticized the federal judicial system for going after a sailor instead of a top Clinton aide.
Saucier pleaded guilty in 2016 of taking photos inside the USS Alexandria while it was stationed in Groton, Connecticut, in 2009. He said he only wanted service mementos, but federal prosecutors argued he was a disgruntled sailor who had put national security at risk by taking photos showing the submarine’s propulsion system and reactor compartment and then obstructed justice by destroying a laptop and camera.
Saucier also claimed his prosecution was driven by sensitivity about classified information amid the scandal involving Clinton’s emails.
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LEWIS “SCOOTER” LIBBY
Trump issued a full pardon in April to I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney who was convicted of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice following the 2003 leak of the covert identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame.
President George W. Bush later commuted Libby’s 30-month prison sentence, but declined to issue a pardon despite intense pressure from Cheney. No one was ever charged for the leak.
Trump said he didn’t know Libby, but “for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly. Hopefully, this full pardon will help rectify a very sad portion of his life.”
The Libby case was criticized by conservatives, who argued he was the victim of an overly zealous and politically motivated prosecution by a special counsel.
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JACK JOHNSON
Trump in May granted a rare, posthumous pardon to boxing’s first black heavyweight champion, clearing Jack Johnson’s name more than 100 years after what many saw as his racially charged conviction.
Trump said as he announced his decision that he wanted “to correct a wrong that occurred in our history and to honor a truly legendary boxing champion.”
Johnson was convicted in 1913 by an all-white jury of violating the Mann Act for traveling with his white girlfriend. That law made it illegal to transport women across state lines for “immoral” purposes.
The case had been championed by actor Sylvester Stallone, and Trump credited the Rocky star for bringing Johnson’s story to his attention.
Stallone, WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and retired heavyweight titleholder Lennox Lewis all joined Trump in an Oval Office ceremony.
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DINESH D’SOUZA
Trump announced via tweet on Thursday that he planned to pardon conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud.
“Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today,” Trump wrote. “He was treated very unfairly by our government!”
D’Souza was sentenced to five years of probation In 2014 after pleading guilty to violating federal election law by making illegal contributions to a U.S. Senate campaign in the names of others.
D’Souza and his supporters claimed he was unfairly treated by the Obama administration because of his fierce criticism of the former president, but the federal judge in his case said he produced no evidence of this.
(AP)
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One Response
He should pardon some liberal Democrats (note: Johnson, like most Blacks at the time, was probably a Republican) while he is in the mood of pardoning become convicted for political crimes.