President Trump pardoned seven people and commuted the sentences of four others. Photo / Doug Mills, The New York Times
The president granted full pardons to seven people and commutations to four others on Tuesday. Here's who they are.
President Donald Trump pardoned seven people Tuesday, including financier Michael Milken and Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner, and commuted the sentences of four others, among them Rod Blagojevich, a former governor of Illinois.
The Constitution gives presidents what the Supreme Court has ruled is the unlimited authority to grant pardons, which excuse or forgive a federal crime. A commutation, by contrast, makes a punishment milder without wiping out the underlying conviction. Both are forms of presidential clemency.
Here are the 11 people who benefited from the executive grants of clemency that Trump signed Tuesday.
Rod Blagojevich — Commutation
Former Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 2011 for trying to sell or trade to the highest bidder the Senate seat that Barack Obama vacated after he was elected president. Blagojevich's expletive-filled remarks about his role in choosing a new senator — "I'm just not giving it up for nothing" — were caught on government recordings of his phone calls and became punch lines on late-night television.
In 2010, while Blagojevich was awaiting trial, he was a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice, a reality series hosted by Trump. Blagojevich was fired at the end of the fourth episode of the season.
Edward DeBartolo Jr. — Pardon
Edward DeBartolo Jr., a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers, pleaded guilty in 1998 to concealing an extortion plot by a former governor of Louisiana. DeBartolo was prosecuted after he agreed to pay US$400,000 to the former governor, Edwin Edwards, to secure a riverboat gambling license for his gambling consortium.
The 49ers won five Super Bowl championships in a 14-year span while DeBartolo was serving as the team's principal owner. Although DeBartolo avoided prison time, he was fined US$1 million and was suspended for a year by the NFL.
Ariel Friedler — Pardon
Ariel Friedler, a technology entrepreneur whose product served millions of students, pleaded guilty in 2014 to conspiracy to access a protected computer without authorisation and served two months in prison, according to a statement from the White House.
Friedler has since dedicated his life to promoting veterans issues and helping former prisoners re-enter society, the statement said.
Tynice Nichole Hall — Commutation
Tynice Nichole Hall, 36, was sentenced in 2006 after she was convicted on various drug charges in Lubbock, Texas, according to the Justice Department. The evidence at trial showed that Hall's residence was used as a stash house for drugs by her boyfriend, who was the main target of an investigation, according to court documents. Police found large quantities of crack and powder cocaine and loaded firearms in her apartment.
Hall has spent the last 14 years in prison where she has participated in apprenticeships, completed coursework toward a college degree and led educational programs for other inmates, the White House statement said.
Bernard Kerik — Pardon
Ten years ago this month, Bernard Kerik, a former New York police commissioner, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to eight felony charges, including tax fraud and lying to White House officials. Kerik, who was a close ally of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, took responsibility for his actions. Kerik's rise to prominence dates to the 1993 campaign for mayor in New York City, when he served as Giuliani's bodyguard and chauffeur. After the pardon was announced, Kerik expressed his gratitude to Trump on Twitter. "With the exception of the birth of my children," he wrote, "today is one of the greatest days of my life."
Michael Milken — Pardon
Michael Milken was the billionaire "junk bond king" and a well-known financier on Wall Street in the 1980s. In 1990, he pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, though his sentence was later reduced to two years. He also agreed to pay US$600 million in fines and penalties. Milken was the inspiration for the Gordon Gekko character in the film Wall Street.
Among those arguing for Milken to be pardoned were Giuliani, who prosecuted Milken when he was the US attorney for the Southern District of New York. Since he was released from prison in 1993, Milken has aimed to repair his reputation via the Milken Institute, a nonpartisan economic and public policy think tank
Crystal Munoz — Commutation
Crystal Munoz was found guilty of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute marijuana in 2008, according to a petition filed by the Criminal Defense Clinic at the Texas A&M University School of Law. Munoz, who was sentenced to nearly two decades in prison, drew a map that her friends used in a large marijuana trafficking operation, according to Rolling Stone. Over the past 12 years, Munoz has mentored people and volunteered with a hospice program while serving time in prison, according to the White House statement.
Judith Negron — Commutation
Judith Negron, 48, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2011 for her role in orchestrating a US$205 million Medicare fraud scheme as the owner of a mental health care company in Miami. Negron, a wife and a mother, has served eight years in prison, and her prison warden described her as a "model inmate," according to the White House statement.
Paul Pogue — Pardon
In 2010, Paul Pogue, the founder and former chief executive of a large construction company in Texas, was sentenced to three years of probation and was ordered to pay US$723,0000 in fines and restitution for filing false income tax statements, according to the McKinney Courier Gazette.
The White House applauded his charitable work in its statement Tuesday. "Despite his conviction, Mr. Pogue never stopped his charitable work," the statement said.
David Safavian — Pardon
David Safavian, the top federal procurement official under President George W. Bush, was sentenced to a year in prison in 2009 for covering up his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Safavian, a former chief of staff at the General Services Administration, was convicted of both obstruction of justice and making false statements. "Having served time in prison and completed the process of rejoining society with a felony conviction, Safavian is uniquely positioned to identify problems with the criminal justice system and work to fix them," the White House said in a statement Tuesday.
Angela Stanton — Pardon
Angela Stanton, an author, television personality and motivational speaker, served six months of home confinement in 2007 for her role in a stolen-vehicle ring. Her book "Lies of a Real Housewife: Tell the Truth and Shame the Devil" explores her difficult upbringing and her encounters with reality TV stars.
Recently she has begun giving interviews about her support of Trump. The White House credited her in its statement with working "tirelessly to improve re-entry outcomes for people returning to their communities upon release from prison."
Written by: Derrick Bryson Taylor, Heather Murphy and Mariel Padilla
Photographs by: Doug Mills
© 2020 THE NEW YORK TIMES
Six people have now died in a suspected mass methanol poisoning event.