The US President on Monday announced that he was issuing a “full and unconditional pardon” to former Virginia sheriff Scott Jenkins, convicted of federal bribery and fraud charges in December.
Trump argued in a Truth Social post that Jenkins and his family “have been dragged through HELL by a Corrupt and Weaponized Biden DoJ.”
For context - Jenkins was found guilty of accepting more than $75,000 in bribes, in exchange for appointing wealthy businessmen - including a convicted felon - to a “sworn law-enforcement position”.
Prosecutors said the men paid for badges so that they could avoid traffic tickets and carry concealed firearms without a permit.
Now, presidential pardons happen all the time. But on closer inspection, some US citizens have clearly figured out that despite ‘breaking bad’, cozying up to Trump can keep them out of jail - no matter how grave the crime.
What is a ‘presidential pardon'?
Enshrined in the US Constitution, Article II grants a sitting President the power to forgive individuals for federal crimes.
The pardon represents legal forgiveness, ends any further punishment and restores rights such as being able to vote or run for public office. It however does not apply to impeachments. More importantly, pardons are irreversible. No one, including a new president, can overturn or revoke a pardon issued by a previous president.
Who has Trump pardoned so far?
According to the US Department of Justice, 14 US presidents since 1945 have together issued more than 9,000 presidential pardons. During this period, Harry Truman (1945 to 1953) issued the most pardons at 1,913.
But, Trump seems determined to come first, even in presidential pardons. To that effect, Trump has issued at least 1,644 pardons so far.
What’s surprising, though, is that during his first term in the White House, Trump doled out only 144 pardons. The balance 1,500? Those were issued pretty much as soon as he was sworn-in for the second time. And not just to those accused of petty crimes.
“Full, complete and unconditional” pardons were issued to individuals involved in one of the darkest periods of American democracy - the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol. And just to ensure all loose ends are tied up - Trump also signed an order directing the DoJ to drop all pending cases against suspects accused of involvement in the riot.
Beside Jenkins and the Capitol insurrectionists, Trump’s list of pardons includes some, let’s say, colourful individuals.
Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman; Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser; Roger Stone, political adviser; and George Papadopoulos, his campaign adviser. The fab four had been implicated in the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation - the same one that examined Russian interference in the 2016 US election.
Ross Ulbricht, who operated Silk Road, the dark web marketplace. He was found guilty of charges including conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking.
Charles Kushner, his daughter Ivanka’s father-in-law, was also, quite predictably, pardoned. Kushner was convicted on charges including tax evasion, campaign finance offences and witness tampering.
Benjamin Delo, Arthur Hayes and Samuel Reed, three co-founders of the crypto exchange BitMEX, who had pleaded guilty for failing to implement a Bank Secrecy Act-compliant anti-money laundering program. These pardons seemed to be quid-pro-quo as Trump had courted crypto donors during his campaign.
That brings us back to Jenkins. Earlier in March, US attorney Zachary T. Lee had applauded the original conviction and condemned Jenkins’s actions. Lee said the case proved that when officials used their authority for unjust personal enrichment, the DoJ would hold them accountable.
Well, maybe.
