President Donald Trump is draining crime victims's wallets while his allies get richer, according to a new report.
Trump's pardons have robbed $1.7 billion from federal crime victims in restitution funds, according to a House Judiciary Committee report uncovered by journalist Scott MacFarlane.
"Trump’s 'get out of jail free' cards for convicted crooks are actually costing crime victims a fortune," MacFarlane wrote. "Trump’s pardons have triggered a historic and 'massive redistribution of wealth in favor of convicted criminals.'"
Trump now stands accused of demolishing the pardon system as deep-pocketed convicts lobbied him through well-paid allies of the president and his lawyers, according to the report.
Just last month, Trump pardoned Republican megadonor Adam Kidan, who pleaded guilty in the lobbyist Jack Abramoff conspiracy case, after making a $2,600 contribution to a Republican's campaign PAC.
The Judiciary Committee Democrats argued such pardons for dozens of convicted fraudsters undermine any messaging his administration might make that they are “cracking down on fraud," Macfarlane reported.
"In recent months, often to justify immigration crackdowns or cuts to health care and food assistance programs, House Republicans have, hilariously, made ‘fighting fraud’ one of their central talking points," the report states.
"This is true. But convicted fraudster Donald Trump and the MAGA pardon industrial complex are all about committing fraud, protecting fraudulent schemes, and pardoning convicted fraudsters.”