Trump is pardoning Dinesh D’Sousza who pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions.
Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today. He was treated very unfairly by our government!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2018
He wasn’t treated unfairly. He was guilty and admitted it.
CNN Analysis of the pardons and their impact on the Russia investigation
The President has the right to pardon but the facts are these: D'Souza intentionally broke the law, voluntarily pled guilty, apologized for his conduct & the judge found no unfairness. The career prosecutors and agents did their job. Period. https://t.co/bA3I8vs4QQ via @politico
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) May 31, 2018
Dinesh D’Souza said the Charlottesville rally was a hoax, shared images calling Obama a gay Muslim, said Michelle Obama is a man, started conspiracy theory about Vegas shooting, mocked shooting survivors and defended Hitler. Just in the past year. This pardon is disgraceful.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) May 31, 2018
Dinesh D'Souza has long been a nasty and extreme ideologue peddling hate and racism. So he's a perfect recipient of Trump pardon. https://t.co/Phadw2PNBr
— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) May 31, 2018
obama pardoned people who faced real injustice. trump pardons pieces of shit like dinesh d'souza and joe arpaio. that's the difference.
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) May 31, 2018
Not that it affects the legal case, but Dinesh D’Souza’s twitter feed looks like Roseanne’s x 1,000 and is what he’s been known for in recent years. There’s a separate message getting sent there too with this pardon. https://t.co/aDKjkqYiXT
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) May 31, 2018
Trump’s Dinesh D’Souza pardon today, on top of his pardons of Scooter Libby and Joe Arpaio, make sense only as an elephant-whistle to Michael Cohen & all who know damning things about Trump: protect me & I’ll have your back. Turn on me & your goose is cooked. More obstruction!
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) May 31, 2018
In pardoning the well-documented criminality of folks like Dinesh D'Souza and Joe Arpaio, President Trump is sending a clear message: Personal loyalty to his administration will secure legal immunity.
It can't be overstated how subversive this is to a functioning democracy. https://t.co/oqxuei9pIa
— Serene Jones (@SereneJones) May 31, 2018
Also important here is the *way* he's doing these pardons (Arpaio, Libby, D'souza), which as far as I can tell, aren't going through the pardon attorney process.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) May 31, 2018
let’s remember just *three months ago* when D’Souza was disinvited from CPAC for mocking the Parkland kids pic.twitter.com/gzrTL0KRph
— Charlie Warzel (@cwarzel) May 31, 2018
D’Souza has been loudly blasting law enforcement and defending Trump. Yet another signal from Trump that he will help his allies even if they committed serious crimes. https://t.co/W03qwynxcY
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) May 31, 2018
D’Souza’s claims that he was treated unfairly in his prosecution were found to be completely without merit by a federal judge. See the thread below. https://t.co/rIfhQGF3Gb
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) May 31, 2018
one particularly odious comment i forgot: after unarmed African-American teenager Trayvon Martin was shot to death in Florida, Dinesh D'Souza referred to President Obama as "Grown-Up Trayvon in the White House" https://t.co/BXiuija7zB
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) May 31, 2018
These are called “Straw Donors.” D’Souza reimbursed the Straw Donors $10k each in cash, $20k total
During the plea proceeding, D’Souza “admitted that he knew that what he was doing was wrong and something the law forbids,” per US Attorney.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 31, 2018
Trump's weaponization of pardons for use in the culture war could be a big part of his legacy, writes @GrahamDavidA: https://t.co/FE0dB1mc0i
— TheAtlanticPolitics (@TheAtlPolitics) May 31, 2018
Ever the class act. https://t.co/6U4C7sjFro
— Neil King (@NKingofDC) May 31, 2018
Dinesh D'Souza forced to apologize for mocking Florida shooting survivors after massive backlash https://t.co/ztk39z3Xfc pic.twitter.com/9eL0742mO3
— The Hill (@thehill) February 22, 2018
The power to pardon is one of the president's most absolute powers. And it has certainly been used with politics in mind before (Marc Rich). But politically driven pardons now appear to becoming the norm. Something to pause and consider. pic.twitter.com/jG0ANOzUoq
— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) May 31, 2018
What's the pattern w/ pardoning Libby & D'Souza, floating Stewart & Blagojevich? Celebrity + white collar + undoing big wins by enemies (prosecutors were Comey, his lawyer Pat Fitzgerald, & fired SDNY US atty @PreetBharara). Who else fits? Maybe Conrad Black, another Fitz case…
— Charlie Savage (@charlie_savage) May 31, 2018
I know the two aren't connected – but I keep thinking back to the Texas woman who got five years for voting illegally. D’Souza, with his guilty plea of making illegal campaign contributions, faced a MAX of two years. https://t.co/j77UsAstOt
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) May 31, 2018
Sad! 