President Donald Trump is going to issue a full pardon to Dinesh D'Souza, a controversial conservative firebrand who pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws in 2014.
"Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D'Souza today. He was treated very unfairly by our government!" Trump tweeted on Thursday morning. After being convicted, D'Souza had to spend eight months living under supervision at a "community confinement center" and pay a $30,000 fine as part of a sentence that included five years probation, according to CNN.
D'Souza was accused of asking associates to make donations valued at $20,000 to the 2012 Senate campaign of Wendy Long, a Republican who ultimately lost to New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, according to The Washington Post. Because D'Souza then reimbursed his associates for doing this, prosecutors claimed he had participated in what is known as a straw donors scheme, one that led to the Long campaign committee making a false report to the Federal Elections Commission about the sources of its contributions.
At the time D'Souza was indicted, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said that "this office and the FBI take a zero tolerance approach to corruption of the electoral process. If, as alleged, the defendant directed others to make contributions to a Senate campaign and reimbursed them, that is a serious violation of federal campaign finance laws."
D'Souza's attorney, Benjamin Brafman, argued at the time that "Mr. D’Souza did not act with any corrupt or criminal intent whatsoever. He and the candidate have been friends since their college days, and “at worst, this was an act of misguided friendship by D’Souza. . . It is important to note that the indictment does not allege a corrupt relationship between Mr. D’Souza and the candidate."
Four months after being charged, D'Souza pled guilty, telling the court that "I knew that causing a campaign contribution to be made in the name of another was wrong and something the law forbids. I deeply regret my conduct."
D'Souza had also tried to get the charges dismissed by arguing that he was the victim of political prosecution, although Judge Richard Berman ruled that "the court concludes the defendant has respectfully submitted no evidence he was selectively prosecuted," according to Reuters.
As the judge added, "The burden, at this stage, is some evidence. I determine that there is no evidence. There is no evidence of discriminatory effect nor of discriminatory purpose. The defendant is, for example, unable to say what classification he is in and whom, if anyone, is similarly situated in a different classification that has not been prosecuted. That the case is interesting or high profile, is insufficient to constitute some evidence of selective prosecution."
Earlier this month, D'Souza repeated his insistent claim that he was the victim of politically motivated prosecution in a Fox News editorial discussing similar accusations that had been made against a left-wing celebrity, Rosie O'Donnell.
Mine was a clear instance of politically motivated prosecution. Two indications of that are contained right in my FBI file, which is now in the hands of a congressional oversight committee.
In the FBI file, I’m red-flagged as a political conservative who made a movie critical of President Obama. Why mention this? The FBI did it to signal to the Obama Justice Department and its stooges that I was a political enemy they might want to prosecute.
The FBI also made an initial outlay of $100,000 to investigate my $20,000 case. Again, this is odd. But it is also consistent with a political hit. Clearly the FBI was working in cahoots with Obama-appointed U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara and his prosecutorial team in New York City to make sure that they nailed their target.
Finally, the injustice of the case can be seen in the verdict. No American has been even charged, let alone received such a severe penalty, for doing what I did. And no prominent person on the other side of the aisle had a similar case, until O’Donnell’s situation was recently brought to light.
During a radio appearance on Laura Ingraham's show on Thursday, D'Souza gloated about how the tables had seemingly turned by him being pardoned and Bharara being fired by Trump.
"With regard to Preet Bharara, I see him along with Eric Holder as part of the Obama team of goons that was unleashed to get me in retaliation for the movie I made about Obama," D'Souza told Ingraham. "I think Bharara's ambition was that he would prove by getting a fellow Indian, he would endear himself to the Obama team. So it was a move of ambition as I understand it."
He added, "But you know, we'll have to file this into the 'karma is a bitch' department. Preet Bharara got fired by Trump and I got pardoned, so that's how it all ended up."
Bharara's impending pardon was hailed by many prominent right-wing voices.
WOW! Incredible! @DineshDSouza totally deserves this! CONGRATS! https://t.co/gkX1LgGbWF
— 🇺🇸MFLYNNJR🇺🇸 (@mflynnJR) May 31, 2018
The political hit job on @DineshDSouza was a disgrace. That’s what the Obama administration was good at. Targeting those they disagreed with and trying to silence them.
Man this sounds familiar.
— 🇺🇸MFLYNNJR🇺🇸 (@mflynnJR) May 31, 2018
It's worth noting that Trump and D'Souza have quite a bit in common. Setting aside the possibility that Trump is accused of reimbursing his lawyer Michael Cohen for an illegal campaign contribution to cover up his past affair with a porn star (which sounds suspiciously similar to the crime to which D'Souza pleaded guilty), the two men have a long history of posting incendiary tweets.
Here are three choice samples from D'Souza's feed over the years:
For those interested in entertainment trivia, Trump and D'Souza have something else in common: Both men won Golden Raspberry Awards at various points in their career. For Trump, his Razzie came for his cameo appearance in "Ghosts Can't Do It," a 1990 comedy about a wealthy older man who haunts his much younger wife after committing suicide to make sure she stays faithful and helps him murder a younger man for him to haunt (this was meant to be sweet and romantic, not creepy). For D'Souza, it was for his 2016 movie "Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party," which received a 4 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
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