Trump pardoned them. Now they're helping him return to power.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

This is a way long article.

TRUMP IN POWER

Trump pardoned them. Now they’re helping him return to power.

By Beth Reinhard, Manuel Roig-Franzia and Clara Ence Morse
Dec. 2 at 6:00 a.m.

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https://wapo.st/48i5Ljl

FOUNTAIN HILLS, Ariz. — At a diner known for political chitchat and Coca-Cola memorabilia, former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio walked from table to table on a recent fall morning, asking voters to back him for mayor of his Phoenix-area hometown — and to support the former president who once rescued him from a potential prison sentence. ... “Are you for Trump?” Arpaio asked one restaurant patron, as town council members, a Republican Party activist and a Bible study group ate breakfast at tables nearby.

In the six years since Arpaio received Donald Trump’s first presidential pardon, the ex-sheriff known nationally for his anti-immigrant agenda has worked hard to boost his staunch ally in this swing state — from pressing voters one by one to vote for Trump in 2024 to issuing endorsements that the former president has reposted to millions of followers online. ... Never before had a president used his constitutional clemency powers to free or forgive so many people who could be useful to his future political efforts. A Washington Post review of Trump’s 238 clemency orders found that dozens of recipients, including Arpaio, have gone on to plug his 2024 candidacy through social media and national interviews, contribute money to his front-running bid for the Republican nomination or disseminate his false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.

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Trump’s decision to return to politics, unlike many other one-term presidents, means that he can reap the benefits of that politically charged clemency process as he campaigns again for the White House. ... Many of the campaign donors, Republican operatives and media pundits who made his clemency list were well-positioned to return the favor. When mainstream social media sites banned Trump and TV networks limited his appearances after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, clemency recipients such as Stephen K. Bannon and Dinesh D’Souza extolled him on conservative platforms and offered him airtime. After some financial supporters pulled away, they wrote checks. And as Trump’s election-denying allies faced lawsuits and, in some cases, criminal charges, they continued spreading his bogus theories. One Republican consultant pardoned for a campaign finance crime, John Tate, is even working for Trump’s 2024 campaign, records show.

As former criminal defendants, these clemency recipients are particularly poised to amplify the former president’s attacks on a justice system that has brought 91 felony charges in two state and two federal indictments against him. Many of them are fueling one of the defining narratives spun by Trump for his 2024 campaign: a “two-tier” justice system in which the former president and his supporters are unjustly persecuted victims of a “political witch hunt.”

{snip}

About this story
The Post used data released by the White House and Justice Department on Trump’s 238 clemency orders as the basis for reporting this story. To determine whether individuals donated to support Trump, The Post checked the donation histories of clemency recipients and some immediate family members in Federal Election Commission data. Counts may not include those who gave less than $200 to the campaign. In the graphic, some clemency recipients were charged with additional types of crimes. Among financial donors, only those who personally gave at least $1,000 to Trump’s campaign are included in the “Helping Trump in the campaign” graphic.

Alice Crites, Alexandra Heal and Jeremy Merrill from The Post contributed to this report, along with Daniella Jimenez, Jana Cholakovska, Chaya Tong and Hayden Godfrey from the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. Graphics by Hannah Dormido and Nick Mourtoupalas.

Edited by Tim Elfrink. Photo editing by Natalia Jiménez. Graphics editing by Adrián Blanco Ramos. Copy edited by Carey Biron. Additional photo research by Max Becherer, Stephen Cook, Robert Miller, Christine T. Nguyen, and Troy Witcher.

Beth Reinhard
Beth Reinhard has been a reporter at The Washington Post since 2017. She previously worked at The Wall Street Journal, National Journal, The Miami Herald and The Palm Beach Post. Twitter https://twitter.com/bethreinhard

Manuel Roig-Franzia
Manuel Roig-Franzia is a feature writer in The Washington Post’s Style section, where he profiles national figures in the worlds of politics, the law and the arts. He previously served as bureau chief in Miami for The Post's National staff and in Mexico City for the Post's Foreign staff. He is the author of a biography of Sen. Marco Rubio. Twitter https://twitter.com/RoigFranzia

Clara Ence Morse
Clara Ence Morse is an intern with the Data team at The Washington Post. She joined The Post last summer as the Investigative Reporting Workshop intern with the Data team, and previously served as the editor in chief of the Columbia Daily Spectator. She lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter https://twitter.com/ccemorse

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Another Doozy: Charles Kushnner (Jared's father) donated $1 million to TFG's Super PAC.

https://www.businessinsider.com/charles-kushner-trump-super-pac-donation-jared-pardon-2024-gop-2023-8#:~:text=Charles%20Kushner%2C%20the%20father%20of,witness%20tampering%20and%20tax%20evasion.

To refresh your memories, Kushner was prosecuted by none other than Chris Christie, convicted, sent to prison, was released, and pardoned on the last days of TFG's administration.

One million big ones.

Talk about barter! We've heard about how pardons were sold. Here's Exhibit One. And it's payback time.

[peppertree]

2. Kleptocrats of the world unite