Trump pardons Right-wing gadfly D’Souza

President Donald Trump yesterday announced on Twitter that he is giving a full pardon to conservative provocateur Dinesh D’Souza, and told reporters he is considering action in two other cases, those of Martha Stewart and convicted former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

The D’Souza pardon was Trump’s fifth, and another in a pattern of using that near-absolute presidential power for moves based on political whim or convenience, with little or no legal review. Legal observers also have suggested that the pardons could amount to a signal from the president to associates implicated in the Russia probe that he would consider pardoning them.

The day’s pardon action began yesterday, as Trump tweeted: ‘‘Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today. He was treated very unfairly by our government!’’ D’Souza pleaded guilty in 2014 to campaign finance fraud, after a prosecution headed by Preet Bharara, then the US attorney for Manhattan. Trump fired Bharara soon after becoming president.

Trump did not explain what he meant by saying that D’Souza had been treated unfairly, but the White House put out a statement saying that ‘‘D’Souza was, in the President’s opinion, a victim of selective prosecution for violations of campaign finance laws.’’ D’Souza had claimed selective prosecution before pleading guilty. The judge who presided over his case ruled he had produced ‘‘no evidence’’ to back up that assertion.

D’Souza admitted to having illegally used straw donors to contribute to a Republican Senate candidate in New York in 2012. He was sentenced to five years of probation, including eight months at a ‘‘community confinement centre’’ in San Diego, and ordered to pay a $30,000 fine. His case has been a cause for some conservatives, who say D’Souza was targeted for his caustic, sometimes racist, criticism of former President Barack Obama and his wife.

Bharara, in a tweet, denied any political influence took place: ‘‘The facts are these: D’Souza intentionally broke the law, voluntarily pled guilty, apologised for his conduct & the judge found no unfairness. The career prosecutors and agents did their job. Period,’’ he wrote.

Later, talking to reporters on Air Force One as he flew to Texas for fundraisers, Trump said he was also considering pardoning Stewart, who was convicted in an insider trade case in 2004. That prosecution was led by one of Bharara’s predecessors as US attorney, James B. Comey, who would go on to be FBI director and also get fired by Trump.

He also said he might move to limit Blagojevich’s sentence, indicating that he thought it was excessive.

Blagojevich, a Democrat, was convicted of corruption for seeking to benefit from making a Senate appointment to fill the vacancy left after former Senator Barack Obama became president.

‘‘If you look at what he said, he said something to the effect like what do I get,’’ Trump said. ‘‘Stupid thing to say . . . . And it was foolish,’’ Trump said. – TNS

‘‘This is protectionism, pure and simple.’’ Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission