Multiple former Trump administration officials are sounding the alarm over the president’s pardons, saying they appear designed to signal to his supporters that breaking the law is acceptable — so long as it’s done to his benefit.
“He is upending a whole process by which you reach a fair and accurate recommendation,” said an attorney who previously helped President Donald Trump with pardons during his first administration, speaking with The Washington Post Monday on the condition of anonymity.
“But he’s also … sending a signal: ‘you broke the law, but you broke the law and support me. That’s fine.’”
Trump has issued a number of controversial pardons during his second term, including mass pardons for around 1,500 of his supporters who had participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and crypto billionaire Changpeng Zhao, a major Trump ally who helped enrich his family to the tune of more than $1 billion.
Trump has defended his controversial pardons, and in the case of Zhao – indicted for having facilitated billions of dollars’ worth of transactions tied to child-sex-abuse materials and drug trafficking – the president claimed not to know who he was, despite apparently signing off on the pardon himself.
Also speaking with the Post in its Monday report was Elizabeth Oyer, a former Justice Department attorney who was fired over her refusal to restore gun ownership rights to actor Mel Gibson, who had said rights stripped away after his conviction on a midemeanor domestic violence charge from 2011.
On Trump’s pardons, she called them “shocking,” and characterized them as a clear quid pro quo to those whom Trump considers to be allies.
“This president views the pardon power as a personal tool that he can use when it benefits him personally, politically, or financially, without assessing whether the use of the pardon power benefits the American public,” Oyer told the Post.
“...The president views the justice system as a spoils system. He is encouraging the prosecution of his enemies and special treatment of his friends.”