Americans Lose Out on Over a Billion Dollars Thanks to Trump's Pardons: House Democrats Report
In just the first five months of his second term, Trump has issued nearly 1,600 pardons, including a blanket pardon for most January 6 defendants and clemency for a number of wealthy or politically connected individuals. The report, reviewed by Axios, accuses Trump of abusing the clemency power to reward allies and loyalists at the expense of victims and taxpayers who will no longer benefit from fines, forfeitures and restitution.
The biggest financial hit came from Trump's pardon of Trevor Milton, the founder of now-defunct electric truck company Nikola, erasing nearly $680 million in court-ordered restitution. Other notable clemency recipients include Ross Ulbricht, the convicted founder of the Silk Road marketplace, who was spared $184 million in forfeitures, and Jason Galanis, a fraudster whose $84 million restitution order was also wiped out.
The costliest category in the report was restitution, which totaled more than $1 billion. In addition, Trump's pardons erased $183 million in forfeitures and $132 million in fines.
Democrats warned that Trump's actions are undermining the Crime Victims Fund, a federal resource for supporting crime victims, which is funded in part by restitution payments. "Whoever said crime doesn't pay clearly never lived under a Trump presidency," the report states.
Trump has even floated the idea of compensating January 6 defendants, some of whom have pending lawsuits against the Department of Justice seeking damages.
The White House dismissed the findings. Spokesperson Harrison Fields mocked the report, calling it the product of "summer interns" and accusing Democrats of hypocrisy over President Biden's pardon of his son, Hunter. "President Trump is righting the wrongs of political prosecutions," Fields said.
Originally published on Latin Times
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