Donald Trump has been abusing his pardon power on behalf of wealthy people, cronies, and the people who helped him try to steal an election. But he also uses it on behalf of reality TV con-men, and sometimes for corrupt officials just because. Most recently, he rescued two crooked state-level politicians in Tennessee.
Nashville’s WSMV has the story:
President Donald Trump has pardoned the disgraced former Speaker of the Tennessee House, Glen Casada, and one of his co-conspirators after their corruption convictions and sentencing. …
The pair were indicted in 2022, two years after more than $51,000 in state constituent mail payments were funneled to Cothren through Phoenix Solutions, with Casada and Cothren getting more than $35,000 in bribes and kickbacks, according to the government’s case.
The news comes just a day after his other co-conspirator, former Rep. Robin Smith, publicly requested a presidential pardon. Smith took a plea deal for her part in the scheme.
It’s the part about Robin Smith that is so poignant. She didn’t get a pardon and will probably spend eight months in prison, because she took a plea deal and testified. Trump regards corruption as one of the natural perks of office, and he will protect anyone who sells their office for money—but he has no sympathy for a “snitch.”
The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.
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