President Donald Trump has issued a pardon for former Army Lt. Mark Bashaw, who faced a court-martial and a criminal conviction after refusing to comply with Biden-era Covid mandates. Bashaw’s refusal to take the Covid-19 vaccine, wear a mask indoors, or submit to routine testing led to his prosecution under the military’s strict vaccine requirements implemented by then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in 2021. Bashaw, the first service member to stand trial over the rules, was convicted in 2022 but avoided jail time.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is considering pardons for the men convicted in the 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, raising new questions about the case’s handling and fairness. Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, described the trial as a possible “railroad job” and suggested the men may have been treated unfairly.
President Donald Trump has pardoned former Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins, who was sentenced earlier this year to 10 years in federal prison on bribery charges. Jenkins was convicted in December 2024 for running a “cash-for-badges” scheme, where he accepted over $75,000 in bribes in exchange for deputizing individuals, including undercover FBI agents posing as donors.
Joe Borelli, former Republican leader of the New York City Council, fired back at CNN panelists Wednesday after they accused President Donald Trump of corruption over a meme-coin dinner. Borelli reminded viewers that it was former President Joe Biden who issued sweeping pardons to members of his own family—an unprecedented move that included his embattled son Hunter Biden.
President Donald Trump has granted a full and unconditional pardon to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road online marketplace. The pardon fulfills a campaign promise Trump made in May 2024 at the Libertarian Party’s National Convention, where he vowed to commute Ulbricht’s sentence to time served.
Republican strategist Scott Jennings sparked a heated discussion on a CNN panel Monday after liberal commentators criticized President Donald Trump’s blanket pardon of over 1,500 individuals convicted of crimes related to the January 6 Capitol riot. Jennings pushed back, highlighting what he described as a double standard in how participants in the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) riots were treated compared to those involved in the Capitol events.
On the morning of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, retired Green Beret Master Sergeant Jeremy Brown issued a hopeful statement, calling it “the 6th most important day” of his life, after his five daughters’ births. Brown compared his anticipation to the uncertainty and suspense he felt returning from his first combat deployment as an Army Ranger. For the first time in 40 months, he said, he felt “hope.”
