The family of a Republican donor who pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return gave more than $200,000 to President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign before he was pardoned.

The White House announced Tuesday that Trump granted a full pardon to former Texas construction company owner Paul Pogue, who pleaded guilty to the charge in 2010. Pogue was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine and more than $473,000 in restitution, according to The Associated Press.

Other pardons included former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was found guilty of trying to sell former President Obama’s vacated Senate seat, former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, who pleaded guilty to tax fraud and lying to White House officials after he was selected to head the Department of Homeland Security, and the scandal-plagued financier Michael Milken.

The White House downplayed the charges against Pogue in a statement claiming that he agreed to plead guilty in the case in order to save the jobs of employees at his company. It added that the pardon was pushed for by Texas Attorney General […]

Read the Full Article