Trump Pardoned Convicted Fraudster Three Days After He Donated to a Vulnerable Republican Incumbent's PAC

Adam Kidan, the Republican megadonor and convicted fraudster from the Jack Abramoff scandal, was pardoned by Trump alongside nine Clean Air Act violators on July 3. According to new reporting from NOTUS, Kidan donated $2,600 to the leadership PAC of Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-Pa.), a vulnerable incumbent Trump had just campaigned for in his eastern Pennsylvania district, on June 30. Trump pardoned Kidan three days later.

Kidan’s pardon wiped away a felony fraud conviction and an outstanding restitution order tied to the underlying scheme. It’s unclear how much of it he ever paid, and a pardon is likely to erase what remains.

Spotlight PA, running NOTUS’s reporting, has the story:

Mackenzie’s office told NOTUS that the Republican congressman did not speak with the White House or Trump about the pardon, but it declined to answer questions about whether the congressman intends to keep Kidan’s donation. “Congressman Mackenzie has never advocated for a pardon from the President on anyone’s behalf,” Mackenzie spokesperson Arnaud Armstrong said in a statement. …

Following publication of this article, the White House said … that Trump takes his power to issue pardons seriously, that he is “the final decision maker” on pardons and that a team of “elite lawyers” evaluates every request before it reaches the president. …

Mackenzie faces Democratic challenger Bob Brooks to represent Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District in what the Cook Political Report ranks as a “toss-up” race. In an email to NOTUS, Brooks campaign manager Jenna Kaufman said: “Three days after a convicted fraudster cut Ryan Mackenzie a massive campaign check, that same fraudster walked away with a presidential pardon. That is corruption in plain sight.”

Mackenzie has since returned the donation. His office said he gave back Kidan’s $2,600 “to avoid even an appearance of impropriety”—an implicit admission of exactly the appearance Trump’s pardon created.

Three days is a curiously tight window for a coincidence, and this is hardly the first time Trump’s pardon pen has moved suspiciously close to a payment. Kidan didn’t respond to requests for comment on the timing. He’s also given to at least six other Republicans in competitive 2025–26 races—Mackenzie is just the one whose timing lined up closest to when the pardon was issued.

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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