Ex-FBI official fears Trump will ignore vetting and start pardoning terrorists

Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi is seriously concerned about the recent reporting that Donald Trump's White House was not vetting some people they were pardoning or commuting sentences for in the administration's final months.

A New York Times report by Michael Schmidt and others revealed that one of Trump's pardons was for a violent drug distributor named Jonathan Braun. The story walks through how Braun was able to leverage his family's relationship with Jared Kushner's family. The man had a history of violent threats and other concerning behavior that made for an unusual choice for a commutation.

Among the concerns about a second Trump term is his pledge to pardon Jan. 6 defendants, some of whom have already pleaded guilty and served their time. Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, warned that Trump could be even more reckless than before.

There are several controversial pardons throughout history, he conceded, but up until Trump's administration, there wasn't "a complete abandonment of the justice process, meaning, as Mike said, you don't even vet candidates for pardon."

He cited former Attorney General Bill Barr, who said that he'd contacted the White House saying the pardons were coming faster than they could vet them.

"So, you don't even know who you're letting go or letting off," Figliuzzi said, paraphrasing Barr.

As The Times described, there was a complete "lack of rigorous vetting of applications and the sidelining of the Justice Department, which has traditionally screened candidates. Mr. Kushner took a major role in the less structured vetting process that resulted in Mr. Braun’s commutation."

Braun was about to enter a cooperation agreement with prosecutors in New York over a predatory lending scandal. After being commuted, he walked away.

"The Justice Department investigators from Manhattan involved in the cooperation negotiations with Mr. Braun were never consulted," The Times reported.

Trump's spokesman claimed all pardon applications “went through a vigorous vetting and review process."

Figliuzzi called Braun a "double whammy" because he was headed to prison for a drug conviction but was involved in another case.

It was "a much larger DOJ investigation and on the verge of cooperating when, of course, he thumbed his nose at that whole process and said, I'm out of here. I've been pardoned," he said. "So, what does this mean for the future? It means that a former president who's already told us he will consider pardoning Jan. 6th defendants is going to do it. And he's going to do it without the benefit of the Justice Department saying, hold on, this guy actually has a problem. He's an ongoing terrorist, or this is a child molester. That's not going to happen. We have a president who's not going to just pervert the system. He's going to abandon the system."

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