Trump to pardon D’Souza

President Donald Trump announced Thursday he will grant a full pardon to Dinesh D’Souza, a conservative commentator and former Christian college president. D’Souza was sentenced to five years of probation in 2014 for making illegal campaign contributions in other people’s names. His prosecution came on the heels of his 2012 resignation as president of The King’s College in New York City while going through a divorce. He had just reached the apex of his conservative prominence by writing several best-selling books and directing the film 2016: Obama’s America when WORLD reported he had attended a speaking engagement with his girlfriend while still married to his wife, Dixie. In a court filing in 2014, D’Souza’s lawyer said he orchestrated $20,000 in campaign contributions to U.S. Senate candidate Wendy Long out of gratitude for her introducing him to someone who helped produce his movie. Some of D’Souza’s supporters claimed the Obama administration targeted him for federal prosecution in retaliation for his criticism of the president. Trump echoed that sentiment in a tweet Thursday, saying D’Souza “was treated very unfairly by our government!”

UPDATE (12:25 p.m.): President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Thursday that he is considering commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and pardoning businesswoman and TV personality Martha Stewart. Blagojevich, a contestant on Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice reality TV show in 2010, is serving a 14-year prison sentence for a corruption conviction in 2012. Stewart was convicted in 2014 of obstructing justice and lying to the government about why she sold stock just before the price plummeted. The president said Stewart “used to be one of my biggest fans.”