President pardons: Celebrity connections, conservative causes
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has pardoned a conservative commentator he claims “was treated very unfairly by our government!” and announced he’s thinking about clemency for Martha Stewart and former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, among “lots” of other people.
“What they did to him was horrible,” Trump told reporters, speaking of his decision to clear the name of Dinesh D’Souza, who had pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud.
It was the latest example of Trump trying to right a perceived wrong with his presidential pardon power, and a move that makes ever clearer that, in the Trump administration, the odds of a pardon have heavily favored those with a celebrity backer, those who have become a cause celebre among conservatives and those with a reality TV connection.
Trump has been particularly drawn to cases where he believes there was a political motivation to the prosecutions — a situation that may remind him of his own predicament at the center of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling, which he insists is nothing but a “witch hunt.”
On Thursday, Trump said he was seriously considering commuting the sentence of Blagojevich, the Democratic former governor serving a 14-year prison sentence on numerous counts of corruption, including trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat that was vacated by Barack Obama. The president also said he was considering a pardon for Stewart, the celebrity lifestyle guru who served a stint in federal prison after being convicted of charges related to a stock sale.
Both had connections to Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” reality television show: Blagojevich was a contestant in 2010 and Stewart hosted the 2005 spinoff series, “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.”
Hours earlier, Trump said on Twitter he would pardon D’Souza. An outspoken critic of Obama, D’Souza claimed his prosecution by the Obama Justice Department was politically motivated.
Trump has issued five pardons as president: The first went to former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a top Trump supporter during the 2016 campaign, who was spared the prospect of serving jail time after a conviction stemming from his use of racially targeted immigration patrols. Next came Navy sailor Kristian Saucier, who had taken photos of classified portions of a submarine. Trump often mentioned Saucier’s case on the campaign trail as he criticized his former Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, for her use of a private email server. Saucier had claimed his prosecution was driven by sensitivity about classified information driven by Clinton’s case.
Next came former White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. A former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, Libby was convicted of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice following the 2003 leak of the covert identity of a CIA officer. The Libby case was taken up by conservatives who argued he was the victim of an overly zealous and politically motivated prosecution by a special counsel.
That pardon, especially, was seen as a sign that Trump might be willing to pardon former aides caught up in the Mueller inquiry.
Trump has also been moved by cases championed by celebrities. Last week, he pardoned Jack Johnson, boxing’s first black heavyweight champion, whose case had been brought to his attention by actor Sylvester Stallone. And on Wednesday, he met with reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who urged him to pardon Alice Marie Johnson, a woman serving a life sentence for drug offenses.
Trump’s predecessors largely relied on a formal, Department of Justice process to identify those deserving of clemency.
None of the clemencies that Trump has granted have come through the front door of the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, which typically assists the president in exercising his pardon power.
Instead they’ve been brought to the president by White House lawyers, advisers and outside confidants and celebrities, according to a senior White House official, who said there are dozens of pardons currently under consideration by White House attorneys and the president.
The official said Trump has prioritized actions that have personally affected him — noting he’s been particularly drawn to cases where he believes there was political motivation to the prosecutions.
In its latter years, the Obama administration searched for candidates like nonviolent drug offenders and those affected by mandatory minimum sentencing policies, viewing clemency as a tool to promote policy goals.