President Donald Trump stirred up a bit of controversy on Tuesday when he exercised his presidential powers of pardon and commutation. Members of his own party weren’t pleased but the president was not bothered and did what he thought was right anyway.
Here’s a rundown on the men he helped:
- Rod Blagojevich is the former Illinois governor who has served 8 of 14 years in prison for charges related to his attempt to sell former President Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat in 2008. Trump commuted his sentence after calling it terrible.
- Michael Milken pleaded guilty to violating US securities laws. The president pardoned him citing his support of cancer research.
- Bernard Kerik, former NYC police commissioner, was also pardoned for tax fraud convictions.
- Edward DeBartolo Jr., former San Francisco 49ers owner, was given a full pardon after he was convicted for not reporting a bribe by the former Louisiana governor.
When the media asked Trump about the former Illinois governor’s commutation, he said:
Trump on commuting sentence for Blagojevich: "It was a prosecution by the same people — Comey, Fitzpatrick — the same group." pic.twitter.com/gXigT20Fdc
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 18, 2020
The president granted clemency to a handful of others as well, including some with low-level drug offenses.
Thank you to our friends at RightWing for contributing this piece.