All articles tagged with #pardons
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog pardoned Elor Azaria, the combat medic who shot dead a wounded Palestinian attacker in Hebron. Herzog’s office said the decision does not constitute a reassessment of the case. The move came amid deep political pressure that contributed to the resignation of defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, with Netanyahu praising the pardon and Palestinian officials condemning it as a joke.
Attorney General Todd Blanche defended his pledge to protect law enforcement during a Meet the Press interview, saying Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons don’t contradict that commitment because presidential clemency is a constitutional power separate from DOJ prosecutions. He argued there’s a distinction between prosecuting crimes and issuing pardons and noted Biden’s broad pardons as well. The piece also notes Blanche’s testimony that Trump’s so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund is dead and reiterates his loyalty to the Constitution.
US Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to pledge that the DOJ would always act independently of the White House, saying no attorney general should promise to defy the president; narrowly confirmed 50-49, Blanche has defended Trump-era actions (including moving Maxwell to a minimum-security prison and pardons for Capitol attackers) and defended an anti-weaponization fund that is reportedly dead, while insisting the DOJ will pursue election-integrity efforts despite court defeats and facing scrutiny over Epstein-related files.
In a BBC Newsnight interview, Hunter Biden says Joe Biden’s cancer is ‘debilitating’ and has metastasized to his bones, describing the pain and its impact. The conversation also revisits Biden’s controversial pardons and how they shape perceptions of his presidency, alongside reflections on the 2024 campaign and Hunter’s own legal issues.
Trump signals a post-midterms strategy to cement Republican control by reshaping committees, elevating loyalists, leveraging fundraising power, and pursuing a possible 2028 bid while sidelining rivals and probing Congress's oversight powers.
Fox News Digital reports on a firestorm sparked by the Minnesota Star Tribune’s opinion defending Gov. Tim Walz’s clemency for Tou Lue Vang, a Laotian national who raped a 10-year-old in Minnesota and was facing deportation. The Minnesota Board of Pardons unanimously approved the pardon, prompting criticism from GOP lawmakers and commentators who tied it to broader debates over victims’ rights and illegal immigration; Vang was deported to Laos shortly after, and Walz defended the decision as justified, while the paper said it publishes a wide range of opinions.
A TPM Weekender piece ranks Trump’s post-2020 clemencies, arguing a rising ‘pardon economy’ under Trump II loosened traditional safeguards and rewarded allies, donors, and well-connected figures—from former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández to Rudy Giuliani, Binance’s Changpeng Zhao, Rod Blagojevich, Rep. Henry Cuellar, and others—through a streamlined pardon process led by Ed Martin. The article also notes Boosie Badazz pursuing arbitration over a failed pardon push and critiques the broader political incentives behind these controversial clemencies.
A federal judge dismissed with prejudice the seditious conspiracy cases against four Proud Boys (Nordean, Biggs, Rehl, Pezzola) after President Trump issued an executive order pardoning most Capitol riot defendants and commuting sentences, marking a milestone in ending Jan. 6 prosecutions. The ruling emphasized separation of powers rather than the merits of the charges, noting the defendants had been convicted of serious offenses, while warning that safeguarding democracy remains essential.
U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly granted the DOJ’s motion to dismiss the Jan. 6 convictions of four Proud Boys—Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola—with prejudice, permanently closing the cases after Trump’s mass pardons and commutations. While noting the executive branch’s role in issuing pardons, the judge said he did not approve the decision and that denying the motion would not revive the convictions or trigger a retrial. The defendants were convicted in 2023 on multiple felonies (most on seditious conspiracy) and had sentences later commuted by Trump.
President Trump pardoned nine individuals convicted of tampering with diesel emission-control systems (defeat devices), including several mechanics who sold or installed them; the pardons follow a shift in the administration’s stance on defeat devices and are framed by supporters as relief from overreach.
President Trump signed 11 pardons, saying the recipients were persecuted by the Biden administration. Most pardons relate to emissions-control violations tied to vehicle modifications, with two non-environmental cases highlighted (Adam Kidan and Jack Harvard). The White House provided case descriptions, and Trump framed the move as undoing a weaponized justice system.
President Donald Trump announced he pardoned six people he says were persecuted by the Biden administration for Clean Air Act violations, posting the move on Truth Social without naming those pardoned. A White House official said the pardons relate to individuals convicted of violating emissions laws. The piece notes the Justice Department previously instructed prosecutors to drop cases involving defeat devices used to bypass emissions controls. Trump’s clemency process is led by a small team of aides, and he has increasingly used pardons to advance his political goals.
Trump’s pardon of a diesel-truck mechanic who disabled emissions monitors has spurred a lobbying push by other Clean Air Act offenders seeking presidential clemency, arguing they were helping truck owners and shouldn’t face harsh penalties. The effort reflects a broader pattern of pardons outside DOJ guidelines and fuels a debate over criminal versus civil penalties for emissions tampering, with some Republicans proposing expunging such records while the White House reiterates that the president is the final decision-maker.
In a Meet the Press interview, Trump would not rule out using the nearly $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund to compensate those charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, arguing they were treated unfairly; the fund faces legal challenges with a judge briefly blocking it and the acting attorney general saying it won’t move forward. He defended the protesters, saying some pled guilty out of fear, and the report notes roughly 1,600 charged and 1,100 sentenced, along with his history of pardoning many participants.
President Donald Trump pardoned former Indiana Representative Stephen Buyer, who was convicted in 2023 on four counts of securities fraud for insider trading related to the T-Mobile-Sprint merger. The unconditional pardon came on the recommendation of 52 current and former lawmakers, and Buyer — a former Army judge advocate general and longtime politician-turned-consultant — had been sentenced to 22 months in prison for trades involving Sprint and Navigant (now Guidehouse) stock.