Trump's Pardon Czar Hands a 'MAGA Pardon' to a Corrupt Sheriff Convicted for Bribery

May 27, 2025

The Framers of the Constitution gave the president the pardon power to correct injustices. Donald Trump is using it to create a two-tier system of justice, in which his opponents are subjected to endless harassment and legal threats, while his supporters are totally exempted from the law.

WTOP News reports:

President Donald Trump pardoned a former Virginia sheriff who was sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal bribery charges earlier this year. …
Prosecutors said Jenkins accepted more than $75,000 in a “cash for badges” scheme in 2022. Two of the auxiliary deputy sheriffs that Jenkins accepted money from were undercover FBI agents, who testified they gave Jenkins envelopes with $5,000 and $10,000 cash, respectively. …
Scott MacFarlane, CBS News’ Justice correspondent, told WTOP that the president’s move was “not at all surprising.”
“Scott Jenkins was a longtime, vocal supporter of President Trump, a fixture in terms of a campaign surrogate for Donald Trump in Virginia, and appeared at the White House during Trump’s first term,” he said. “(There was) no evidence of there being any misconduct or impropriety in the trial. But this pardon takes effect now.”

Just to make it obvious, Ed Martin, the Trump loyalist recently appointed to be in charge of vetting presidential pardons, announced, “No MAGA left behind.” This is the same Ed Martin Trump previously installed as acting D.C. District Attorney despite his role in defending Jan. 6 insurrectionists. Trump had to withdraw his effort to install him permanently in that position when it came that key Republicans in the Senate would not vote for his confirmation.

A previous Justice Department statement about Sheriff Jenkins had declared legal accountability for “officials [who] use their authority for unjust personal enrichment.” But Donald Trump is on the other side on that issue.

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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