WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump granted clemency to several people Tuesday, including Rod Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor who was convicted on corruption charges in 2011 related to trying to sell President Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat, and Bernie Kerik, the former New York police commissioner jailed on eight felony charges.
Blagojevich, 62, has been serving a 14-year sentence, but he was released from prison Tuesday after his sentence was commuted.
Trump also granted clemency to Michael Milken, who was charged with insider trading in the 1980s.
Earlier Tuesday, the White House announced a pardon for Edward DeBartolo, the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers football team who pleaded guilty two decades ago for failing to report a felony.
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"The pardoning of these disgraced figures should be treated as another national scandal by a lawless executive," Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., said in a statement. "In office, Trump has used pardons almost exclusively to shield unrepentant felons, racists and corrupt scoundrels like Blagojevich and now Milken, one of the most prolific financial criminals in U.S. history."
Trump also commuted the sentences of several women.
Judith Negron, 48, had been serving a 35-year sentence at a Florida prison for health care fraud, conspiracy and money laundering when she was released Tuesday.
"It's hard to put in words. I'm so excited. I yelled, screamed and cried. We are just filled with happiness and gratitude," said Yamilla Cruz Estrada, Negron's sister, thanking Trump for answering the family's prayers.
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"I'm indebted to him for the rest of my life because he gave me my family back," Judith's husband, Hector Negron, told The Associated Press.
Her case, like several others, had been championed by criminal-justice advocates like Alice Marie Johnson, whose life sentence Trump commuted in 2018 at the urging of reality TV star Kim Kardashian West and whose story Trump's reelection campaign featured in a recent Super Bowl ad.
Johnson told The Associated Press that the president had been looking specifically for female candidates, and asked her, during a criminal-justice conference at historically black Benedict College, for a list of other women who deserved clemency.
"Kim made a difference going to the White House fighting for me, so if I can fight for something I definitely wasn't going to turn that opportunity down," Johnson said.
Holly Harris, president of the criminal-justice group Justice Action Network, applauded Trump "for taking these steps," but said she hoped to see him use his power to help "any of the thousands of deserving individuals who are neither rich, nor famous, nor connected."
"They are the forgotten majority of the country's crisis in mass incarceration, a crisis that disproportionately impacts lower income communities and communities of color, and they are every bit as deserving of a second chance," she said.
SUPPORT FOR BLAGOJEVICH
Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One that he had commuted the sentence of Blagojevich, noting that he'd seen Blagojevich's wife advocate for him on television and that the Democrat had appeared on Trump's Celebrity Apprentice reality show
"He'll be able to go back to his family after serving eight years in jail, which was a powerful and ridiculous sentence in my opinion," Trump said.
Several prominent Democrats have also lobbied for a shortened sentence, arguing that Blagojevich's punishment was too severe. Last year, Illinois Republican Reps. Darin LaHood, John Shimkus, Adam Kinzinger, Rodney Davis and Mike Bost urged Trump not to commute Blagojevich's sentence, citing the importance of taking "a strong stand against pay-to-play politics."
Blagojevich was caught on FBI wiretaps talking about trying to sell Obama's Senate seat, saying that it was a "valuable thing" and that "you don't just give it away for nothing."
"He's been in jail for seven years over a phone call where nothing happens -- over a phone call which he shouldn't have said what he said, but it was braggadocio, you would say," Trump told reporters last year. "I would think that there have been many politicians -- I'm not one of them, by the way -- that have said a lot worse over the telephone."
"It was a prosecution by the same people -- Comey, Fitzpatrick, the same group," Trump told reporters. He was referring to Patrick Fitzgerald, the former U.S. attorney who prosecuted Blagojevich and now represents former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired from the agency in May 2017.
Trump also pardoned Kerik, a regular guest at Mar-a-Lago and frequent pundit on Fox News -- making an appearance as recently as Monday night. The former New York police commissioner was sentenced to four years in federal prison in 2009 after pleading guilty to charges of tax fraud and lying to White House officials.
"There are no words to express my appreciation and gratitude to President Trump," Kerik said in a statement. "With the exception of the birth of my children, today is one of the greatest days in my life -- being made a full and whole American citizen again."
Trump was personally lobbied on Kerik by his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and CEO of Newsmax Media Christopher Ruddy, among others, according to a senior administration official.
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., who signed a letter supporting the Kerik pardon, said the president "has had a lot of respect for Bernie over the years."
Geraldo Rivera also signed the letter and was instrumental in the pardon, King said.
Democrats who have urged Trump to commute Blagojevich's sentence include civil-rights leader Jesse Jackson and his son former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Senate Democrat, also has said that he supports the move.
Milken, who was granted clemency Tuesday, rose to prominence for his role in developing high-interest-bearing securities markets, known as junk bonds, before pleading guilty in 1990 to six felony counts, including securities fraud, mail fraud and aiding in the filing of a false tax return.
Milken, the investment banker who was known in the 1980s as the "junk bond king," fought for decades to reverse his conviction for securities fraud.
Richard LeFrak, a billionaire real estate magnate and longtime friend, and Nelson Peltz, a billionaire investor who hosted a $10 million fundraiser for the president's 2020 campaign Saturday, were among those who suggested that the president pardon him.
DeBartolo, who was pardoned Tuesday, pleaded guilty to not reporting a bribe, testifying in a gambling fraud and corruption case against former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, a Democrat, in 1998 that the governor extorted him for $400,000 in exchange for approval of a riverboat casino license. DeBartolo paid the money, and the state licensing board unanimously approved his project.
DeBartolo, a billionaire, had to pay $1 million in fines, was placed on two years of probation and handed the NFL team over to his sister.
The decision regarding DeBartolo was announced publicly Tuesday by deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley, who was flanked by several former NFL players outside the White House.
"I take my hat off to Donald Trump for what he did," said one of them, former 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice, calling it a "great day."
Rice and Joe Montana, as well as singer-songwriter Paul Anka urged Trump to pardon DeBartolo.
There's no indication that DeBartolo donated to Trump's presidential campaign, but in 2016 he cohosted a pre-Inauguration Day party that honored several individuals close to Trump, including former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and former White House aide Omarosa Manigault.
DeBartolo, Kerik and Milken were all denied pardons under Obama, Justice Department records show.
13,000 REQUESTS
Trump acknowledged that in deciding whom to pardon, "a lot of times I really rely on the people that know them."
The 11 clemencies announced Tuesday mark the largest number Trump has granted at a time, but they barely make a dent in the record-setting backlog of nearly 13,000 people currently waiting for responses to their requests.
Obama granted an unprecedented number of commutations, about 1,700, under a sweeping initiative that prioritized nonviolent drug offenders.
Nearly all of the people who received commutations from Obama were men, and nearly 80% were black or Hispanic, according to a report by the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Most presidents in recent decades have faced accusations at one time or another that they exploited pardon power. Former President Bill Clinton issued pardons in the final hours of his presidency to his half brother, a Whitewater business partner, his former housing secretary and a fugitive commodities trader married to a major Democratic donor.
Asked on Tuesday about a pardon for Roger Stone, Trump's longest-serving adviser who was convicted in November of seven felony charges, Trump insisted that "I haven't given it any thought."
Information for this article was contributed by Josh Dawsey, Colby Itkowitz, Beth Reinhard, John Wagner and Ashley Parker of The Washington Post; by Jill Colvin, Zeke Miller, Michael Tarm, Mike Schneider, Jake Bleiberg and Michael Biesecker of The Associated Press; and by Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times.
A Section on 02/19/2020