5/31/2018

MEDIA/PARDON/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Donald Trump said Thursday [5-31-18] he would issue a’full pardon’ to conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who was convicted in 2014 for funneling illegal campaign contributions to a Republican Senate candidate. Hours later, Mr. Trump followed up and said he was considering commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who is in federal prison on corruption charges, and indicated he was considering a possible pardon for lifestyle businesswoman Martha Stewart. Mr. Blagojevich, who won office as Democrat, is serving a 14-year sentence on charges that included trying to sell President Barack Obama’s old U.S. Senate seat. Referring to the Blagojevich case, Mr. Trump said that bragging about getting something back for a Senate appointment was ‘a stupid thing to say’ but that he believed the length of Mr. Blagojevich’s sentence might be excessive…Mr. Trump also told reporters aboard Air Force One that he had contemplated Ms. Stewart’s case. Ms. Stewart was found guilty in 2004 on charges related to her obstruction of a government investigation into her sale of ImClone Systems stock and served several months in federal prison. Mr. D’Souza, who retweeted Mr. Trump’s message Thursday, pleaded guilty to a felony in the 2014 case and was sentenced to five years probation.”

-Louise Radnofsky, “Trump to Pardon Dinesh D’Souza, Mulls Commutation for Rod Blagojevich,” The Wall Street Journal, May 31, 2018 1:10 pm