President Donald Trump issued a new round of pardons and commutations on Wednesday, including a high-profile pardon for former Republican congressman Michael Grimm of New York. The move is part of a broader clemency spree that has drawn increasing scrutiny not just for the volume and nature of the pardons, but for growing allegations that Trump is accepting financial contributions in exchange for presidential clemency.
Grimm, who served Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn in Congress from 2011 to 2015, was granted a full pardon, a White House official confirmed. He previously served seven months in federal prison after pleading guilty to felony tax fraud. His name had faded from public view until last September, when he was seriously injured after falling from a horse during a polo event.
Alongside Grimm, Trump commuted the sentence of Larry Hoover, co-founder of the Gangster Disciples gang. Hoover had been serving multiple life sentences, originally for a 1970s murder conviction and later for operating a criminal enterprise in the 1990s. His supporters have pushed for release under the First Step Act a criminal justice reform law Trump signed in 2018. Though Hoover’s federal sentence has been commuted, he remains incarcerated under a separate state sentence and is being transferred from federal prison in Colorado to state custody in Illinois.
Rapper Kentrell Gaulden, better known as NBA YoungBoy, was also pardoned despite an extensive record of legal troubles. Trump’s clemency actions further included former Connecticut Governor John Rowland, a Republican who pled guilty in a 2004 corruption case and was later convicted again on federal charges in 2014.
The list continues with several less prominent figures: Mark Bashaw, convicted in 2022 for refusing to follow military COVID-19 protocols; Tanner Mansell and John Moore, who were prosecuted after releasing sharks from a government fishing line; and four additional individuals Annabelle Valenzuela, Maryanne Morgan, Kevin Basin, and Earl Lamont Smith whose pardons were reportedly advanced by Alice Marie Johnson, whom Trump has informally labeled his “pardon czar.”
This recent wave of pardons also included reality TV personalities Todd and Julie Chrisley, convicted in 2022 for tax evasion and bank fraud. Trump also pardoned Paul Walczak, a health care executive who pleaded guilty to serious tax offenses. That pardon came less than a month after Walczak’s mother attended a $1 million-per-person fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort a detail that has only intensified accusations of pay-to-play schemes tied to clemency.
Media outlets have begun openly reporting that Trump’s pardon spree may be influenced by political donations and personal connections. Several of the individuals pardoned in recent weeks either have family members who donated significant amounts to Trump-aligned causes or attended exclusive fundraising events. Ethics watchdogs and legal analysts are warning that the pattern points to what increasingly looks like a transactional approach to presidential power one that raises serious questions about corruption and abuse of office.
Despite growing backlash, Trump continues to promote his pardon decisions as examples of fairness and reform, while critics argue the actions increasingly resemble personal favors granted to wealthy supporters and political allies.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.