President Donald Trump on Thursday said he plans to grant a full pardon for conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza, who was sentenced in 2014 to five years of probation for federal campaign law violations.
"Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today. He was treated very unfairly by our government!" Trump said on Twitter.
D’Souza, 57, admitted in May 2014 that he illegally reimbursed two “straw donors” who donated $10,000 each to the unsuccessful 2012 U.S. Senate campaign in New York of Wendy Long, a Republican he had known since attending Dartmouth College in the early 1980s, Reuters reported.
D'Souza also personally contributed $10,000 to the campaign at a time when the legal limit for an individual contribution was $5,000.
Then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara accused D'Souza following his sentencing of "willfully undermining the integrity of the campaign finance process."
D'Souza is a best-selling author of several books on politics and the influence of religion on American society, AFP reported. He also produced the films "2016: Obama's America" and "Hillary's America."
Before pleading guilty, D'Souza claimed he was targeted for federal prosecution because of his anti-Obama views. Federal judge Richard Berman dismissed the bias claims.
"The defendant's claim of selective prosecution, legally speaking, is all hat, no cattle," he said.
D’Souza was a policy analyst for the late President Ronald Reagan and as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He was president of The King’s College in New York City from 2010 to 2012, his website says.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) praised the pardon.
“Bravo! @realDonaldTrump Dinesh was the subject of a political prosecution, brazenly targeted by the Obama administration bc of his political views,” Cruz said Thursday in a tweet. “And he’s a powerful voice for freedom, systematically dismantling the lies of the Left—which is why they hate him. This is Justice.”
D’Souza is the latest figure to get a reprieve from the president, who last year pardoned former Phoenix-area sheriff Joe Arpaio, calling him a patriot who was unfairly treated by the Obama administration.
The reprieve of Arpaio, who was convicted of federal misdemeanor criminal contempt after a judge found he had defied a court order to stop targeting Latinos with sweeps of suspected undocumented immigrants, renewed criticism of the president’s handling of racially charged issues, Bloomberg reported.
Supporters argued that Arpaio’s methods successfully deterred criminal behavior. Critics said the sheriff's tactics were racist, pointing to multiple instances of mistreatment that led to the death or injury of prisoners.
Arpaio is running in the Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in Arizona. That vote will be on Aug. 28.
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