Trump pardons former Virginia sheriff convicted of fraud and bribery
Donald Trump announced on Monday that he had issued an unconditional pardon to a former Virginia sheriff who was convicted on federal fraud and bribery charges.
Scott Jenkins, 53, had served as the sheriff of Culpeper county in northern Virginia for 12 years, having been elected in 2011 and re-elected twice.
In 2024, a jury found him guilty of accepting more than $75,000 in bribes in exchange for appointing several northern Virginia businessmen as auxiliary deputy sheriffs within his office.
He was convicted of one count of conspiracy, four counts of honest services fraud, and seven counts of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.
In March 2025, Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
According to prosecutors, Jenkins accepted bribes from at least eight people, including two undercover FBI agents, in the form of cash and campaign contributions.
Prosecutors say that he issued official badges and credentials in return, allowing the individuals to avoid traffic tickets and carry concealed firearms without a permit.
Three people – Rick Rahim, Fredric Gumbinner and James Metcalf – pleaded guilty to secondary roles in the case, with prosecutors saying Jenkins accepted bribes from them.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump defended Jenkins calling him a 'victim of an overzealous' justice department during Joe Biden's presidency. Trump said Jenkins 'doesn't deserve to spend a single day in jail'.
Trump also criticized the judge who oversaw the case, alleging that Jenkins was prevented from presenting 'evidence to support himself' and was 'shut down' during proceedings.
After his conviction, Jenkins reportedly appealed directly to the Trump administration for clemency.
Sign up to This Week in Trumpland
A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration
after newsletter promotion
Jenkins has become only the latest person to receive a pardon from Trump about fourth months into his second presidency.
On Trump's first day in office, he pardoned or commuted the punishments of about 1,500 people involved in the January 6 2021 attack on Congress, including some convicted of violent offenses.
Since then, Trump has also issued pardons to others such as Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the illegal online drug marketplace the Silk Road; and former Democratic Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of federal corruption charges, including attempting to sell an appointment to the US senate seat left vacant by Barack Obama's ascent to the presidency in 2009.
In March, Trump pardoned three co-founders of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, who pleaded guilty in 2022 to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
24 minutes ago
- Reuters
NYSE Arca submits filing for listing of Truth Social Bitcoin ETF
June 3 (Reuters) - NYSE Arca on Tuesday submitted a filing to the U.S. markets regulator seeking regulatory approval to list the Truth Social Bitcoin ETF. Spot bitcoin ETFs have gained popularity since their January 2024 debut, drawing billions in inflows as investors seek regulated, liquid exposure to the cryptocurrency. In February, the Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT.O), opens new tab applied to trademark six investment products that track bitcoin and the U.S. manufacturing and energy sectors. U.S. President Donald Trump is the majority owner of TMTG, which runs the social media platform Truth Social. The filing, known as a Form 19b-4, is a requirement that organizations such as stock exchanges submit to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to propose a rule change or to list a new product. It's a key procedural step before an exchange can begin listing and trading a new fund or instrument. The fund will seek to reflect the performance of bitcoin and has been "designed to remove the obstacles represented by the complexities and operational burdens involved in a direct investment in bitcoin." Bitcoin has gained 12.7% so far this year and is trading above $105,000.
Sky News
25 minutes ago
- Sky News
Mohamed Soliman: Colorado attack suspect's wife and children detained by immigration officials
The family of the man accused of throwing petrol bombs at a pro-Israel group in Colorado have been taking into custody. Immigration officers detained Mohamed Soliman's relatives, believed to be his wife and five children. Soliman, an Egyptian national, moved to the US three years ago and lived in Colorado Springs but was there illegally after his visa and work authorisation expired. He reportedly has two teenage children and three younger children. "We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it," said homeland security secretary Kristi Noem on X. Soliman, 45, is being held after Molotov cocktails were thrown at a group doing a walk for Israeli hostages in Boulder on Sunday. The attacker allegedly yelled "Free Palestine" and had a total of 18 petrol bombs - but police said he "got scared" and only tossed a couple. Soliman also had a makeshift flamethrower in the form of gas in a backpack sprayer, according to a FBI statement, but told investigators he did not use it. Twelve people were injured, authorities said. The victims were aged between 52 and 88 and three of them were still being treated in hospital on Tuesday. Soliman was allegedly dressed as a gardener to get as close as he could to the small group. Authorities said he told them he had no regrets. He has been charged with a hate crime and 16 counts of attempted murder in federal and state cases. Court papers said he planned the attack for a year and told authorities that no one, including his family, was aware of the plot. An FBI statement said Soliman left an iPhone hidden in a drawer at his home with messages for his family but that his wife handed it to police. The family are said to be cooperating with investigators. Soliman admitted taking gun training to try to get a permit but was denied as he wasn't a US citizen, according to police and the FBI. Barred from buying a firearm, he allegedly used YouTube to learn how to make petrol bombs. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Boulder attack was "aimed against peaceful people who wished to express their solidarity with the hostages held by Hamas, simply because they were Jews". The incident follows the arrest of a Chicago-born man in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington DC last month. Tensions are simmering in the US over Israel's war in Gaza.
The Independent
35 minutes ago
- The Independent
Musk sends Republicans into chaos as he shreds Trump's ‘big beautiful bill' — ‘He doesn't get to vote'
Senate Republicans were in their luncheon as they begin the process to take up President Donald Trump's ' One Big, Beautiful Bill ' when Elon Musk blasted the legislation as an ' outrageous, pork-filled, disgusting abomination.' version of the massive domestic legislation bill that includes extending the 2017 tax cuts Trump signed, beefed up spending at the U.S.-Mexico border and oil drilling as well as massive changes to the social safety net in the United States. But just before Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the rest Republican leadership were about to begin their press conference, Musk, the just-departed head of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, raged against the bill on X. 'I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore,' he posted. 'This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.' Some Republicans sought to ignore it. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa — who recently came under criticism for dismissing constituents concerned over Medicaid cuts at a local town hall with her response, ' Well, we're all going to die ' — brushed off a question from The Independent as she exited the Capitol and got into her car. Sen. Rick Scott said he had not read the Musk tweet, a common refrain from politicians not wishing to discuss a hot topic. When The Independent offered to show it to him, he brushed it off. 'I want to get the tax cuts permanent, the border money, the military, but we've got to get spending under control,' Scott, an ally of Trump, told The Independent. 'So I'm going to continue to work to bring down the deficit, to hopefully balance the budget the next three years.' Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has in the past called for steeper cuts in the bill and praised Musk's comments, saying it 'bolsters' the points he made. "The only way I know how to do this is lay out the facts and figures and win the argument," Johnson told The Independent. Others, such as Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Katie Britt of Alabama, both members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told The Independent they had not seen the tweet. Alabama's other Republican senator — Tommy Tuberville, a staunch ally of Trump — brushed off Musk's criticism. 'I ain't got any thoughts on that,' Tuberville said of the Musk posting. 'We got a lot of work to do. He doesn't get to vote.' House Speaker Mike Johnson, who spent weeks corralling various factions within the House GOP conference before he passed it in the wee hours of the morning last month before the House broke for recess, pushed back on Musk's criticism. 'It's very disappointing,' Johnson told reporters. 'With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong about the One Big, Beautiful Bill.' Other Republican senators made jokes about Musk's remarks. 'Does that mean he likes it?' Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio told The Independent. 'I think he's probably buying into the CBO scoring model, but look, ultimately, we haven't even gotten the bill yet right so we're gonna make it better.' The Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan body in Congress that scores how much legislation costs, estimated that extending the tax cuts in the bill would raise the debt by $3.8 trillion. But Republicans have pushed back on the estimate. Republicans have only 53 Senate seats, which is below the 60-seat threshold needed to overcome a filibuster. As a result, they hope to pass the bill through a process reconciliation, which allows them to pass legislation with a simple majority as long it relates to the budget. Musk recently exited the Trump administration after a months-long tenure at DOGE, where he slashed federal spending at numerous government agencies, including the US Agency for International Development. Other Republicans said they would work to improve the bill. 'He's certainly entitled his opinion,' Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who faces a tough primary challenge in Texas. 'And we're trying to make the bill better.' The bill is not the first time that Musk has wielded his significant following on X, the site then-known as Twitter that he purchased in 2022, to intervene in congressional affairs. In late 2024, he killed a bipartisan spending deal to keep the government open and said that the government should remain closed until Trump's swearing in. Musk pledged he would challenge any Republicans who voted for the bill. 'In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people,' he said. Even Republicans who criticized the bill seemed to balk at Musk's intervention. When Musk tweeted 'Congress is making America bankrupt,' Paul tweeted 'Some of us are trying to stop that.' But when The Independent asked if Paul had seen Musk's first tweet, he said 'I haven't seen it' as he exited and got into an elevator.
