PARDON
Trump kills elex-cash crook’s rap
PRESIDENT TRUMP unexpectedly announced on Thursday that he will issue a pardon to conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud four years ago.
Trump added that he’s also considering commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, convicted of corruption, and pardoning lifestyle superstar Martha Stewart, who served a stint in federal prison after being convicted of obstruction charges related to a shady stock sale.
All three celebrity convictions echo charges that have been leveled against Trump allies or speculated as possible crimes committed by those close to the President.
“I’ve always felt he was very unfairly treated,” Trump said of D’Souza. “And a lot of people did, a lot of people did. What should have been a quick, minor fine, like everybody else with the election stuff. What they did to him was horrible.”
D’Souza was sentenced in New York to five years of probation in 2014 after copping to charges that he illegally used straw donors to contribute to Republican Senate candidate Wendy Long.
The ultraconservative political commentator and former president of The King’s College in Manhattan has penned several best-selling books and was an outspoken critic of the Obama administration.
Much like the current President, the 57-year-old has courted controversy with his contentious social media posts and comments.
He was widely condemned for making disparaging remarks about then-President Barack Obama in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s 2013 death. Recently, he took heat for criticizing the survivors of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting.
“Worst news since their parents told them to get summer jobs,” D’Souza tweeted after Florida lawmakers voted against legislation banning the sale of assault weapons.
In 2012, he was forced to step down as the head of the evangelical King’s College when he began introducing his mistress as his fianceé — despite still being married to his wife of 20 years.
D’Souza ran afoul of federal campaign finance laws in that same year and later pleaded guilty to reimbursing two associates after directing them to contribute $10,000 each to Long’s campaign.
He admitted at the time he knew that what he was doing was illegal.
Judge Richard Berman struggled at D’Souza’s 2014 sentencing to understand what motivated the conservative blowhard.
“I’m not sure Mr. D’Souza (that) you get it. It’s hard for me to discern any acceptance of responsibility,” Berman said. “He’s a talker. In fact, he’s almost a compulsive talker. But I don’t think he’s a listener. I don’t think he’s hearing himself and those around him,” the judge said.
D’Souza’s ex-wife, Dixie Brubaker, described her former husband as a cheating, abusive liar in a scathing letter sent to Berman.
As part of his probation, Berman ordered D’Souza to see a psychotherapist.
Then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara prosecuted D’Souza.
“The President has the right to pardon but the facts are these: D’Souza intentionally broke the law, voluntarily pled guilty, apologized for his conduct & the judge found no unfairness. The career prosecutors and agents did their job.