One day after meeting with Kim Kardashian West to discuss prison reform, Donald Trump on Thursday used his presidential pardon powers to right a perceived wrong in the U.S. criminal justice system.
Unfortunately, that “perceived wrong” did not pertain to Alice Marie Johnson, a 63-year-old great-grandmother currently serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug crime and the reported subject of West’s meeting with the president. Instead, it related to Dinesh D’Souza, a conservative political ally of Trump, who was convicted of a campaign finance violation in 2014.
Trump’s decision to pardon D’Souza was viewed largely as a signal to longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen, who currently faces an investigation into possible campaign finance violations, among other crimes.
Former Justice Department Spokesperson Matt Miller called the move a “naked abuse of the pardon power.”
It is hard to overstate what a naked abuse of the pardon power it is for the president to use it almost exclusively… https://t.co/dzABvyeHku— Matthew Miller (@Matthew Miller) 1527773778
And MSNBC host Chris Hayes pointed out D’Souza parrots the same “vile, antisemitic” rhetoric as former ABC star Roseanne Barr.
Oh look: the man the president pardoned and who Ted Cruz just praised, fomenting the same vile anti-semitic lie tha… https://t.co/Iq7TBuAWTU— Chris Hayes (@Chris Hayes) 1527774534
Others on Twitter were equally as unforgiving. Read some of the responses below:
Dinesh D’Souza was convicted of one of the crimes Michael Cohen is under investigation for, campaign finance fraud.… https://t.co/vAlzCWg8M8— Joyce Alene (@Joyce Alene) 1527773785
How many unrepentant liars has trump pardoned now?— Emily C. Singer (@Emily C. Singer) 1527773735
Among other things, D'Souza did a film on President Obama...where he describes what he calls Obama's "anti-colonial… https://t.co/vF11SM1Iuj— John Berman (@John Berman) 1527773429
Also, does it seem like whenever there is fresh news about Mueller having some evidence in his possession, Trump pardons somebody?— S.V. Dáte (@S.V. Dáte) 1527774068
.@PreetBharara in 2014 said D’Souza’s illegal campaign contributions was “wilfully undermining the integrity of the… https://t.co/qnPSacEU0k— Jake Tapper (@Jake Tapper) 1527774095
Anyway, 4,600 people apparently died, at least in part, because of our government’s inept response to a hurricane.— Matt Fuller (@Matt Fuller) 1527774251
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