Latest news with #TrumpPardons
CNN
a day ago
- General
- CNN
Michigan Gov. Whitmer says Trump agreed not to pardon kidnapping plotters
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said President Donald Trump previously told her that he wouldn't pardon the men convicted of plotting to kidnap her in 2020, despite him telling reporters on Wednesday he would consider it. The men charged in the case conspired to kidnap the Democratic governor from a vacation home and blow up a bridge to delay law enforcement but were arrested first, authorities said. Eight men were charged on the state level and another six were indicted on federal charges in 2020. Ultimately, nine were convicted or pleaded guilty in the case, and five were acquitted. Whitmer's comments come after Trump's response to a question Wednesday on whether he had plans to pardon the men. 'I'm going to look at it,' Trump said in the Oval Office. 'It's been brought to my attention. I did watch the trial. It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job. I'll be honest with you, it looked to me like some people said some stupid things,' Trump said. 'You know, they were drinking, and I think they said stupid things, but I'll take a look at that. And a lot of people are asking me that question from both sides. Actually, a lot of people think they got railroaded. A lot of people think they got railroaded.' Whitmer, whose dynamic with Trump has appeared to shift from adversarial in his first term to more amicable during his second, said Trump would be going back on his word if he granted the pardons. 'I talked to the President about a month ago, and he asked me how I'd feel about this. And I said 'I think it would be the wrong decision. I would oppose it.' And he said 'okay, I'll drop it.' Now, we see this revelation. So, I'm not sure how to process it,' Whitmer told Michigan Public Radio on Thursday. Whitmer said she condemned violence when Trump was injured last year after a shooting at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. 'I will just point out that when the man shot at the president when he was on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania, I was one of the first office holders on either side of the aisle to condemn it,' Whitmer said. 'Because anything short of condemnation creates a dangerous space for people that are sworn an oath to do the work of the public. We don't take up arms and harm one another.' When asked if she thinks Trump is serious about pardoning the men, Whitmer said, 'I don't know. When I talked to him before, we had a thoughtful conversation about it, and he said he'd drop it. So, I'm not sure what to make of this new revelation, but I will be reaching out over the weekend.' Her comments come as Trump has issued a slew of pardons to individuals with ties to his political allies. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told CNN's Erin Burnett on Thursday that Trump is 'not a good faith actor.' 'You can't count on the president to keep his word. And if Governor Whitmer thinks that his promise alone will be enough, then unfortunately, I got a bridge to sell her,' Nessel said. 'And, you know, this is dangerous. The thought of pardoning people under these circumstances. These are domestic terrorists.' Trump criticized Whitmer in 2020, claiming she didn't thank him after authorities announced they foiled a plot to kidnap her while falsely claiming she called him a 'White Supremacist.' 'My Justice Department and Federal Law Enforcement announced today that they foiled a dangerous plot against the Governor of Michigan. Rather than say thank you, she calls me a White Supremacist,' Trump said in a social media post at the time. The two have recently appeared friendlier toward one another; the president publicly complimented her during a recent trip to Michigan. Prior to that visit, Whitmer visited the White House earlier in April with a bipartisan delegation to discuss a laundry list of issues affecting her state, where Trump briefly lauded her during remarks in the Oval Office.
Washington Post
2 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Hegseth's drama, Trump's pardoning spree, and Elon Musk is out
Hegseth's drama, Trump's pardoning spree, and Elon Musk is out On this episode, The Washington Post's Libby Casey, Rhonda Colvin and James Hohmann are joined by Pentagon reporter Dan Lamothe to delve inside the ongoing drama in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's inner circle: Who is at odds with whom, and what does it mean for Hegseth's job security. Then, President Trump has been on a spree of issuing pardons and commutations for convicted felons – many of whom are his supporters. The crew breaks down who got pardons, and why. Finally, Elon Musk is out of government; did he accomplish what he set out to do, and was it a success?
CNN
3 days ago
- Business
- CNN
‘No MAGA left behind': Trump's pardons get even more political
As President Donald Trump's interim US attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin was remarkably blunt about intermingling Trump's political goals with the ostensibly independent actions of the Justice Department. That might have cost him the permanent gig. So leave it to Martin, now Trump's pardon attorney, to say the quiet part out loud about Trump's pardons. 'No MAGA left behind,' Martin posted Monday on X. Martin's missive came after Trump pardoned a MAGA-supporting former Virginia sheriff, Scott Jenkins, who had been convicted of bribery. Martin's further posts suggested this pardon wasn't about rewarding a Trump ally, per se – a more problematic proposition – but rather about correcting what Trump allies argue was a weaponized Biden administration prosecution. However, if you look closely at how Trump's used his pardon power – which he has exercised dramatically this week, with a slew of new pardons and commutations on Wednesday alone – it's virtually impossible to miss the political overtones. Many of Trump's acts of clemency have rewarded an ally or someone tied to an ally, or they have served a clear and not terribly subtle political purpose. Politics have loomed over other controversial and high-profile pardons – from Andrew Jackson's, to Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon, to Bill Clinton pardoning Marc Rich, to Joe Biden pardoning his own son. (Biden in his closing days also preemptively pardoned other family members and Trump critics who hadn't been accused or convicted of crimes, because Trump and his allies had suggested they could be targeted.) But Trump took things up a level by pardoning a spate of key convicted allies in his first term, often without the kind of extensive process usually used in pardons. And his second term continues to push the envelope. The big one, of course, was the blanket pardoning of virtually all January 6, 2021, defendants – about 1,500 people in total. These were people who quite literally rose up on Trump's behalf and in some cases assaulted police. Trump pardoned nearly all of them even as polling later showed 83% of Americans opposed his pardons for those convicted of violent crimes. There has been more where that came from this week. On Monday, Trump pardoned the MAGA-supporting former sheriff. Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison (during the Trump administration) for offering local businessmen positions as auxiliary deputy sheriffs in return for campaign contributions. On Tuesday, Trump made a splash when he spared reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley lengthy prison sentences for bank fraud after their daughter campaigned extensively for Trump in 2024. Campaign assistance appears to be a common denominator for some Trump pardons. The New York Times reported on Tuesday, for example, that Trump's April pardon of convicted nursing home executive Paul Walczak came after Walczak's mother raised millions for Trump and other Republicans, sought to publicize the diary of Biden's daughter, and attended a $1-million-per-person fundraising dinner last month. Walczak even cited his mother's pro-Trump political activity in his pardon application. And on Wednesday, as Martin took to social media again to proclaim it 'pardon day,' Trump granted clemency to even more individuals, including pardoning former GOP Rep. Michael Grimm of New York. That means Trump has now pardoned no fewer than eight convicted former GOP members of Congress, between his first and second terms. Earlier in the day, Trump suggested that next in line for pardons could be two men convicted of conspiring to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. ('It looked to me like somewhat of a railroad job,' Trump said.) Beyond the pardons mentioned above, Trump has also pardoned or granted clemency to: Former Republican Connecticut Gov. John Rowland, who was convicted on two separate occasions in recent decades Mark Bashaw, an officer who formerly served at the Army Public Health Center and was found guilty of violating the Biden administration's military Covid safety rules by a court martial Trevor Milton, who with his wife gave Trump's reelection effort $1.8 million just a month before the 2024 election and had been represented by lawyers with ties to Trump Ross Ulbricht, whom Trump had pledged to pardon during the 2024 campaign as an appeal to potential libertarian supporters Two key witnesses in the Biden impeachment inquiry (Devon Archer and Jason Galanis) Brian Kelsey, a Republican former state senator from Tennessee Ex-Illinois Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has supported Trump and called himself a 'Trumpocrat' Former Las Vegas City Councilwoman Michele Fiore, a Republican who some have labeled 'Lady Trump' About two dozen people convicted of blocking access to abortion clinics In case the politics of that last one weren't clear enough, Trump announced the pardons just a day before he addressed the anti-abortion-rights 'March for Life' in January. Indeed, you have to strain pretty hard to find Trump pardons or grants of clemency that don't have some kind of political element. Trump in March pardoned three cryptocurrency figures who don't have an obvious political connection to him. But he's also made inroads – both political and personal – into the crypto world, and has pushed for deregulation. He pardoned two DC police officers convicted in a deadly pursuit, and he did so with at least some support from D.C.'s police chief and Democratic mayor. But he also suggested the police had been targeted 'because they went after an illegal' – suggesting the decision was linked to his harsh anti-illegal immigration efforts. Jean Pinkard might be Trump's most normal-sounding act of clemency, given she was sentenced to just one year in prison and has battled cancer. But even there, she was represented by a lawyer who prominently pushed Trump's baseless claims of a stolen 2020 election. Trump on Wednesday also made several pardons and commutations with no immediately apparent political nexus. For instance, he commuted the sentence of former Gangster Disciples co-founder Larry Hoover, just months after Biden pardoned Hoover's second-in-command. Regardless of intent, the pattern of Trump's pardons is pretty clear. They're heavily focused on people who support Trump or have ties to him, those who targeted people Trump also doesn't like, and instances where the pardons could send messages to key constituencies. And there's no sign it's going to slow down any time soon – especially where Martin is involved.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Trump pardons Julie and Todd Chrisley, reality TV stars convicted in 2022 of fraud and tax evasion
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed pardons for reality TV stars Julie and Todd Chrisley, who have been serving federal prison sentences since being convicted three years ago of bank fraud and tax evasion. Trump's pardons pave the way for the couple best known for the TV series 'Chrisley Knows Best' to be freed from prison. Todd Chrisley, 57, has been incarcerated at a minimum security prison camp in Pensacola, Florida. Julie Chrisley, 52, was imprisoned at a facility in Lexington, Kentucky.
Fox News
3 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Pardons for Sale? Trump Spares Convicted Fraudster Whose Mother Gave the President Millions
Howie Kurtz on Trump's recent pardons of convicted felons raising eyebrows, judge striking down Trump order that targeted law firm WilmerHale and Broadway star Patti LuPone saying the Trump-led Kennedy Center 'should get blown up'. Follow Howie on Twitter: @HowardKurtz For more #MediaBuzz click here
