In a string of remarks to reporters and tweets, President Donald Trump framed his clemency decisions as aimed at righting wrongs wrought by the justice system. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo Trump pardons conservative filmmaker, weighs breaks for Blagojevich, Martha Stewart The president's pardons are being closely watched as Mueller's probe advances.

President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested he may step up his use of his pardon powers, announcing such a reprieve for controversial conservative filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza, expressing interest in commuting the sentence of disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and even floating a pardon for TV personality Martha Stewart.

In a string of remarks to reporters and tweets, the president framed his clemency decisions as aiming to right wrongs wrought by the justice system.


Trump took to Twitter on Thursday morning to unveil his intent to pardon D’Souza, who pleaded guilty to a felony in 2014 over his use of straw donors to make illegal contributions in a 2012 Senate race. Trump lamented that the filmmaker “was treated very unfairly by our government!”

On Blagojevich, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the former Illinois governor “shouldn’t have been put in jail” and that “what he did does not justify” his sentence. Blagojevich, who served as governor of Illinois from 2003 until 2009, was impeached and removed from office and convicted of corruption charges over allegations he solicited bribes for political appointments.

As for Stewart, who in March 2004 was convicted on felony charges of conspiracy, obstruction of an agency proceeding and making false statements to federal investigators, Trump told members of the press she “was harshly and unfairly treated.” The president added “she used to be my biggest fan in the world” before he launched his political career.

Breaking News Alerts Get breaking news when it happens — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Trump’s pardons are being closely watched because of special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into whether anyone from the Trump campaign aided Russia in its interference in the 2016 presidential election. The president’s critics see each grant of clemency as a potential signal to defendants and witnesses that they could be spared jail time, even if Mueller brings charges.

The remarks from Trump came just a day after the president met with reality television star and famed socialite Kim Kardashian West, who has lobbied for the pardon of a 62-year-old great-grandmother serving out a life sentence without parole for a nonviolent drug offense. After her White House visit, Trump tweeted they had a “great meeting” where they discussed “prison reform and sentencing.”

Preet Bharara, the then-U.S. attorney who prosecuted D’Souza, reacted to the news of Trump’s pardon plans by reaffirming the findings of his office on D’Souza.

“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,” he tweeted. “The career prosecutors and agents did their job. Period.”

A longtime critic of the Obama appointee, D’Souza responded by taking aim at Bharara over his political ties and their shared ethnic identity.

“KARMA IS A BITCH DEPT: @PreetBharara wanted to destroy a fellow Indian American to advance his career,” D’Souza tweeted Thursday. “Then he got fired & I got pardoned”

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

Bharara was fired in March 2017 for bucking the Trump administration’s call for his resignation.

Trump’s discussion of the commutation for Blagojevich, meanwhile, comes just days after the former politician penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal titled, “I’m in Prison for Practicing Politics.”

Trump appeared to allude to the piece aboard Air Force One, telling reporters that Blagojevich’s remarks were a “foolish statement” with “a lot of bravado.” But Trump added: “Plenty of other politicians have said a lot worse.”

Leonard Goodman, an attorney for Blagojevich, said he is “hopeful” for a commutation.

“Pres. Trump has the power to correct this injustice,” Goodman said in a statement. “Rod Blagojevich did not ever improperly enrich himself in office. He did not take gifts or loans from supporters. He followed the rules for campaign fundraising set out by the Supreme Court. He did not take a penny from his campaign fund for his personal benefit.”

D’Souza’s pardon is Trump’s fifth since entering office. And the potential commutation, which Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One he’s “seriously thinking about,” would mark only the second time he’s taken such action as president, according to the Department of Justice.





By contrast, in his eight years in office, President Barack Obama extended 202 pardons and 1,715 commutations, the latter figure far outpacing those by his modern contemporaries, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. And former President George W. Bush, during his two terms, granted 189 pardons and 11 commutations. But in their first two years in office, neither Bush nor Obama carried out any pardons or commutations, though they later dwarfed Trump’s current pace.

The legal reprieve for D’Souza immediately renewed speculation about Mueller-related pardons. The special counsel has so far secured four indictments of Trump campaign aides — Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn and George Papadopoulos — although none of the charges were directly related to the campaign. However, Trump critics have wondered whether the president is signaling that his aides do not need to fully cooperate with investigators because of the possibility of a pardon.



D’Souza initially insisted he was innocent of federal charges that he routed a total of $20,000 through two associates to the campaign of New York GOP Senate candidate and longtime friend Wendy Long.

However, the conservative author and commentator later reversed course and admitted guilt. He was sentenced to eight months in a halfway house, where he stayed overnight while working during the day.



Some Republican politicians argued at the time that D’Souza was the victim of selective prosecution. D’Souza and his allies amplified that argument earlier this month, pressing for a pardon following a New York Post report that actress Rosie O’Donnell made donations beyond the legal limit to at least five Democratic candidates.

There was no indication, however, that O’Donnell had others make donations on her behalf, as D’Souza did. Instead, she apparently contributed from several different addresses and accounts. Campaigns also recorded her name differently, which may have allowed some donations above the $2,700 limit to slip through.

“I was not choosing to overdonate,” O’Donnell told the Post. “If 2700 is the cutoff — [candidates] should refund the money,” she wrote. “I don’t look to see who I can donate most to … I just donate assuming they do not accept what is over the limit.”

Criminal prosecutions under federal election law require proof that a defendant willfully broke the law, meaning he or she knew what she was doing was illegal.

Despite the distinctions, D’Souza and his supporters argued in recent weeks that the fact O’Donnell has never been prosecuted is evidence that he was railroaded.

“I notice the leftist weasels who call me ‘felon’ have gone dead silent about Rosie committing 5–yes five—campaign finance violations,” D’Souza wrote on Twitter. “Five times more egregious than my case. Now let’s see if Lady Justice is truly blind.”

D’Souza’s wife, Debbie, also weighed in: “This very thing makes my husband the left’s fav felon to bash.... but this woman and other Dems get away with it! - it’s a slap on the wrist, if even that! It was the perfect excuse to shut my husband down.”

Using a #pardondinesh hashtag, the D’Souzas and other conservative activists pressed the White House to grant clemency in the case.

D’Souza does not have a pardon application on file with the Justice Department, a DOJ spokeswoman said Thursday. Clemency applicants typically go through that process, but the president is free to pardon individuals who don’t. D’Souza would not have been eligible to pursue a pardon through the Justice Department because of a five-year waiting period.



Last August, Trump pardoned former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio as he awaited sentencing on a contempt of court charge for defying court orders related to racial profiling in Arizona.

In March, Trump pardoned Kristian Saucier, a former Navy sailor who was sentenced to a year in prison for taking photos in a secure area of a submarine. Saucier’s arguments for clemency included claims that he’d been punished for mishandling classified information in ways similar to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her aides, who were not charged.

In April, Trump pardoned a former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Libby was convicted in 2007 of obstruction of justice and false statements in connection with an investigation into the leak of a CIA officer's identity.

And earlier this month, Trump granted a posthumous pardon to Jack Johnson, a professional boxer who was convicted in 1913 of transporting women across state lines for “immoral purposes.” The conviction by an all-white jury has long been seen as an example of racial prejudice.

The Arpaio pardon was arguably the most, impactful because it eliminated the possibility that the 85-year-old former sheriff could be sentenced to up to a year in prison.

Natasha Korecki contributed to this report.