President Donald Trump on Thursday pardoned a conservative commentator and said he was considering pardoning lifestyle maven Martha Stewart and commuting a former Illinois governor’s prison sentence, prompting critics to accuse him of subverting the rule of law.
Trump announced his decision to pardon pundit and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to U.S. campaign finance law violations and was an outspoken critic of Democratic former President Barack Obama, on Twitter, saying he had been “treated very unfairly by our government!”
The Republican president then told reporters on a flight to Houston he was also considering a pardon for Stewart, who was convicted in 2004 on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements in an insider-trading probe.
James Comey, who Trump fired as FBI director last year and has repeatedly attacked, was the lead federal prosecutor in Stewart’s case and played a role in the prosecution of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the chief of staff to former Vice President Dick Cheney. Trump pardoned Libby in April.
Trump also said he might commute the 14-year prison sentence of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat convicted of corruption charges, and was considering pardoning a woman convicted of a drug-related charge after reality TV star Kim Kardashian discussed the case with him on Wednesday.
Get the Exclusive
05.21.2024