From BuzzFeed:
President Donald Trump's announcement that he was pardoning far-right commentator Dinesh D'Souza, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to campaign finance fraud, caught many in Trump world by surprise Thursday morning, but they insisted it was not indicative of possible pardons for Trump allies ensnared in the Russia probe.
D'Souza isn't that well-known of a figure among Trump's base of supporters, leaving many confused about the reasoning behind the pardon, especially since it came at the same time the White House announced major new tariffs, several sources close to the administration told BuzzFeed News — most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly...
The president told reporters Thursday on his way to Dallas he made the decision to pardon D’Souza on his own. “I don’t know him, I never met him, I called him last night, first time I’ve ever spoken to him,” Trump said, according to White House pool reports. “I said, ‘I’m pardoning you.’ Nobody asked me to do it.”...
D’Souza, Trump said, was shocked to hear from him. “He almost had a heart attack.”...
There’s been some speculation that Trump’s pardon of D’Souza — like his earlier pardon of Scooter Libby — could be a signal to others that he’s willing to use his power to help people he deems “unfairly” treated, especially people who might be in the sights of special counsel Robert Mueller...
A former White House official [said] he doubts "there's any grand strategic reasoning behind this play" ...
The former official said he doesn't think Trump is playing "the sort of three-dimensional chess people ascribe to decisions like this. More often than not he's just eating the pieces."
-RW
Isn’t D’Souza the director who made the anti-Democrat films?
ReplyDeleteIn an interview, D'Sousa said that Ted Cruz was pushing for his pardon. Perhaps Trump is working to get some people on his side. Cruz would be a good ally to have.
ReplyDelete