Trump "rewards" his supporters... with a presidential pardon

 

For weeks, Donald Trump has been issuing pardons to reality TV stars, former elected officials convicted of fraud and embezzlement, and even a former police officer convicted of corruption, in what has been seen as an abuse of this presidential power to reward his supporters and backers.

"The pardon power has always been somewhat controversial because it's such an unlimited power that the president has, and most presidents have issued pardons that appear to serve their own interests, or at least raise suspicions," Kermit Roosevelt, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told AFP.

But Donald Trump exercises this power "without shame, issuing pardons that appear to be in exchange for financial gifts," the expert noted.

Among recent beneficiaries of presidential pardons are major donors to his campaigns, as well as Paul Walczak, a nursing home administrator who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for tax evasion. Walczak's mother attended a dinner at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in April and paid the $1 million entrance fee.

Unlike his predecessors, and his own practice in his first term, Donald Trump "does so much earlier in his term. Many presidents prefer to issue their most controversial pardons before they leave office, so they don't have as much time to endure the political fallout," notes Kermit Roosevelt.

"Other presidents have undoubtedly been accused of improper factors influencing their pardons," says Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor and University of Michigan law professor, in a Bloomberg Opinion.

She points to Gerald Ford's pardon of his predecessor Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal, Bill Clinton's pardon of the husband of one of his top donors, and Joe Biden's pardon of his son Hunter.

However, she adds, "Trump is unique in its scope and audacity. For him, a pardon is simply a deal like any other, provided the accused offers something of value in return."

McQuade continues, "As long as it serves Trump politically or validates his narrative of a rogue Justice Department under Biden, the Pardons Office is open to making decisions."

US President Donald Trump pardoned millionaire reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted of tax and bank fraud, after mediation by their daughter Savannah Chrisley.

When invited to the Republican National Convention in July 2024, Savannah suggested that her parents' travails were linked to their political leanings, even though the action against them dates back to Trump's first term.

In an open letter to the Justice Department's new pardons director, the ultraconservative Ed Martin, House Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin questions the "criteria" used to recommend presidential pardons.

He accuses him of "endorsing pardons for people who profess political loyalty to President Trump or have enough money to de facto buy his pardon."

Ed Martin, who also oversaw a "Judicial Employment Task Force" under the previous administration, makes no secret of the highly partisan nature of the pardons.

Commenting on the X platform regarding the pardon of Scott Jenkins, a former Virginia sheriff convicted of corruption, he said, "No member of the Trump-led Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement will be spared."

Lee Kovarsky, a law professor at the University of Texas, believes that Donald Trump is abusing this power by "over-pardoning."

In an opinion piece in the New York Times, the expert accused Trump of practicing "client pardons," or mitigating punishment for illegal behavior based on loyalty to the government, by explicitly pardoning his political allies.

According to Lee Kovarsky, "The hallmark of client pardons is the use of amnesty measures to make regime loyalists less fearful of criminal punishment."