May 31, 2018

Trump Pardoning of Dinesh D’Souza May Be Another Signal for Loyalists in Russia Probe

“He was treated very unfairly by our government!”

Zach D Roberts/AP

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In a surprise announcement, President Donald Trump said over Twitter that he would pardon right-wing commentator Dinesh D’Souza, who pleaded guilty to making illegal campaign contributions back in 2014. He claimed in a tweet Thursday morning that D’Souza had been “treated very unfairly” by the government.

D’Souza has a long record of promoting far-right, racist conspiracy theories. His extremism traces back to his time as an editor of the Dartmouth Review, where he routinely outed gay classmates. From Mother Jones‘ David Corn:

Much of what D’Souza did in college as a rising conservative star foreshadowed the career of ideological nastiness to come. But relishing the outing of gay students (and at that luncheon there was much relishing) and engaging in dirty tricks to obtain those names—well, that speaks not to ideology, but character. And it is but one reason, even if now dusty, why D’Souza warrants little sympathy for being accused of once again breaking the rules to serve his ideological aims.

Some speculated that Trump’s announcement might be intended to show how he could use the pardon power in possible future cases related to his longtime personal attorney Michael Cohen and others.

This is a breaking news post. We will update as more information becomes available.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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