Republicans Pardoning Undeserved Criminals

Pardoned a convicted drug smuggler who had connections with his son-in-law Jared Kushner's family after her served only two and a half years of his ten-year sentence

Pressured the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to fast-track the pardon approval process of a convicted murderer who killed a peaceful protester in a move the DA trying the case called "deeply troubling"

Pardoned a husband-wife duo who pointed an assault-style rifle and handgun at a group of Black Lives Matter protesters who were peacefully marching near their home even after they told reporters that they didn't regret their actions and promised they would do it again if it came to it

Pardoned notorious former Republican Rep. Duke Cunningham who served an eight-year sentence in prison for raking in $2.3 million in bribes from defense contractors

Pardoned former Republican Rep. Robin Hayes who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his role in a $1.5 million bribery scheme following a request from Republican Senator Thom Tillis

Pardoned former Republican Rep. Rick Renzi who served two years in prison for corruption giving credence to a public relations campaign he led baselessly accusing the DOJ of wrongfully imprisoning him

Pardoned Republican mayor of Mettawa, IL and brother of famed NFL player Brian Urlacher who was charged with being a leader of a multi-million dollar illegal offshore sports gambling ring led by the Chicago mob after personally meeting with the former player at the White House and before the case against his brother had concluded

Pardoned his former top-adviser Steve Bannon before his case went to trial for stealing one million dollars from donors to an online charity fundraiser to build a wall on the Mexico border

Pardoned four Blackwater security contractor criminals after serving only a little over a year of long sentences (three 15-year and one life) for murdering 14 Iraqi civilians and injuring 20 more of which George W. Bush's appointed commander of the Iraq war at the time General Petraeus called "hugely damaging, an action that tells the world that Americans abroad can commit the most heinous crimes with impunity"

Commuted convicted fraudster Phillip Esformes' sentence after he had only served less than two years of his twenty-year sentence for a massive healthcare fraud following a public relations campaign his well-connected family waged with the Trump White House

Honored a request from Senator Rand Paul to pardon two aides who worked on his father Ron's 2012 Presidential campaign and were convicted for bribing a state senator $73,000 to change his vote in the Iowa caucuses

Pardoned former Rand Paul aide Jesse Benton who was convicted of giving a 73K bribe to an Iowa state senator in exchange for his endorsement of then Presidential candidate Ron Paul following a request by Republican Sen. Rand Paul

Pardoned former border agent Gary Brugman who served a two-year prison sentence for violently striking two detained undocumented immigrants who were complying with orders posing no threat of which he defended his actions instead of expressing remorse

Pardoned the wife of disgraced Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter who pleaded guilty to stealing campaign contributions for personal use

Rewarded Dutch attorney Alex van der Zwaan with a pardon after he refused to cooperate with the Mueller investigation and served a 30-day sentence for lying to the FBI about his work with top Trump adviser Rick Gates and an individual tied to Russian intelligence services

Pardoned his son-in-law's father Charles Kushner who served 14 months in prison in the early 2000's for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering 14 years after he concluded his sentence which benefits his namesake company by making it much easier for them to secure financing for major projects

Pardoned his senior adviser Roger Stone as a reward for him refusing to testify against Trump after publicly bashing the US Attorneys who prosecuted the criminal obstruction and witness tampering case against him

Rewarded his 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort with a pardon after he served less than two years of his 7-year sentence after inexplicably breaking his plea deal by lying to investigators about information potentially damaging to Trump

Pardoned his former campaign aid George Papadopoulos who lied to the FBI about his many interactions with top Russian intelligence officials -- at the height of the 2016 Presidential campaign -- who claimed they had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton that could help the Trump campaign and used the occasion to lash out at Special Counsel Robert Mueller for prosecuting him in the first place

Commuted former Republican Rep. Steve Stockman's ten-year prison sentence after serving only two years for stealing $1.25 million meant for a charity but using it for personal expenses and to fund his campaign instead

Pardoned former Rep. Chris Collins as a reward for being the first member of Congress to endorse his 2016 campaign resulting in him only serving 10 weeks of a 26-month prison sentence for insider trading

Pardoned former Rep. and early 2016 campaign supporter Duncan Hunter who admitted to stealing campaign contributions for personal use days before he was set to begin his 11-month prison sentence

Rewarded former national security adviser Michael Flynn with a pardon after he stopped cooperating with investigators following his guilty plea for lying to the FBI over his communications with top Russian officials before he was sentenced and without consulting with the Justice Department first

Pardoned a Republican House candidate and QAnon conspiracy theorist who was a major Trump backer and previously served two years in prison for her role in an organized auto theft ring back in 2004

Rewarded business executive Paul Pogue who served three years' probation for failing to pay over $400k in taxes with a pardon months after his son and daughter-in-law donated $238,541 to Trump's reelection campaign

Pardoned former New York police commissioner and vocal Trump supporter Bernard Kerik who illegally received over $250,000 from a company with suspected connections to organized crime four years after his prison sentence concluded after lobbying from his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani

Rewarded convicted murderer Patrick Baker -- who had only served two years of his 19-year sentence -- with a pardon after his family donated $29,500 to his reelection campaign

Pardoned a man convicted of sexually abusing his 6-year-old stepdaughter

Pardoned a man convicted of sodomizing an unconscious 15-year-old boy with a sex toy less than 4 years into his 15-year sentence

Pardoned a man convicted of raping a 9-year-old girl roughly one year into his 23-year sentence

Pardoned a man who murdered his 6-week-old baby so brutally that "the seams between the bones in his skull were pushed half an inch apart" after he had only served 18-years of his life sentence

Pardoned former Army lieutenant Clint Lorance after serving only 6 years of a 19-year sentence for the war crime of ordering the shooting of two unarmed Afghanistan men

Pardoned former Army Major Mathew Golsteyn before his trial started for the premeditated murder of an unarmed and detained Afghan man because they suspected him of being a bombmaker

Pardoned personal friend Conrad Black who published a fawning book with a title calling him a "President Like No Other" and previously served time for scheming to siphon off millions of dollars from the newspaper company he was CEO of

Pardoned former Army lieutenant Michael Behenna who was convicted of murdering an unarmed Iraqi detainee and attempting to cover it up after Republican Governor Mary Falin and state AG Mike Hunter personally intervened on his behalf

Pardoned his late mentor's grandson who was convicted of felony drug trafficking and tried to keep it secret in a breach of precedent in which governors usually publicly identify the names of people they pardoned

Rewarded Arizona real estate developer Mike Ingram who donated $10,000 to a Trump super PAC a week prior by pardoning two men he advocated for: convicted arsonists Dwight and Steven Hammond who intentionally set a fire on their property to destroy evidence of their illegal poaching that got out of control and spread to federal land

Pardoned radical rightwing filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza six years after his conviction of making illegal campaign contributions after Senator Ted Cruz personally lobbied for it

Pardoned Navy sailor Kristian Saucier who illegally took photographs of classified areas inside a nuclear submarine after he and his lawyers baselessly compared his illegal actions to Hillary Clinton using a private server to send and receive emails during her time as Secretary of State

Pardoned Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio after he was convicted of contempt of court for racially profiling and illegally detaining people of Latino descent before he would be sentenced for his crime

Pardoned a man who shot his victim twice in the head at point blank range less than twenty years into a life sentence

Pardoned a man convicted of shooting his girlfriend in the back and killing her at a public cafe just over ten years into his life sentence

Pardoned a man convicted of shooting and killing his estranged wife and infant son and wounding another man less than twenty years into his life sentence

Pardoned a man convicted of soliciting sexually explicit messages from an underage girl after having a private lunch with a close friend of his family

Pardoned a man who killed an 8-month-old boy in an alcohol-fueled crash who belongs to a politically connected family that donates a lot of money to Republicans

Pardoned the brother of famed NFL quarterback Brett Favre who killed someone else in a drunk driving crash decades ago and had long since completed his sentence which makes you wonder if the only reason he pardoned him is because he's close with Favre

Pardoned a man convicted of killing a man with a cinder block and then buying his body in a shallow grave less than 9 years into his life sentence

Commuted the sentence of a man who later went on to kill four police officers execution style in Lakewood, WA in a crime that wouldn't have happened if the criminal had to complete his 95-year sentence for burglary and robbery