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An Iowa federal judge who warned against political corruption is ridiculing US President Donald Trump’s pardons, including those granted to convicted Republican campaign agents and former members of Congress.
“It is not surprising that a criminal like Trump forgives other criminals,” US District Judge Robert Pratt of the Southern District of Iowa told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview.
Charlie Neibergall / AP
Attorney General Eric Holder speaks with US District Judge Robert Pratt, left, in Des Moines, Iowa.
With a bit of humor, he said: “But apparently to get a pardon, you have to be a Republican, a convicted child murderer or a turkey.”
Pratt was referring to the pardons Trump granted to his former campaign aides convicted during the special counsel’s investigation of Russia, former Republican congressmen who committed crimes and security contractors convicted of killing innocent civilians in Iraq.
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Trump also forgives turkeys, this year two from Iowa, annually before Thanksgiving.
Pratt has been with the bank since his appointment by President Bill Clinton in 1997. He has had a small number of cases since 2012, when he assumed senior status.
Pratt made the remarks when asked to comment on pardons granted to two former senior advisers to Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign, who were convicted in a corruption scheme related to the Iowa caucuses.
He noted that the framers of the US Constitution tried to prevent US officials from “getting rich” while in office by prohibiting gifts and payments from foreign powers. The ongoing lawsuits have accused Trump of profiting from the presidency illegally through his luxury hotel in Washington. A White House spokesman declined to comment on Pratt’s comments.
Evan Vucci / AP
The president of the United States, Donald Trump.
Trump last week pardoned Paul’s campaign chairman, Jesse Benton, and campaign manager, John Tate, who were convicted at trial of concealing $ 73,000 in payments that went to state Senator Kent Sorenson in exchange for Sorenson’s endorsement of Paul. Benton and Tate were sentenced to six months of home confinement and probation.
Sorenson was a promising conservative and made headlines when he defected as Michele Bachmann’s campaign chairman to endorse Paul days before the 2012 caucuses. Paul’s and Sorenson’s campaign denied that money changed hands. It was only later that the public learned that Paul’s campaign secretly paid Sorenson, sending the money through a film production company as “audiovisual expenses” to hide its true nature in publicity reports.
Pratt oversaw Sorenson’s case and sentenced him to 15 months in prison in 2017 despite prosecutors recommending parole after Sorenson pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate. Sorenson’s testimony helped convict Benton, Tate and Paul’s former deputy campaign manager Dimitri Kesari.
Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post
Corn receives a customary turkey pardon from President Donald Trump at the White House.
Pratt did not supervise the trio’s trials. But he issued an extensive opinion detailing his reasoning for sending Sorenson to prison, saying: “I couldn’t believe what was happening.”
Pratt noted in the opinion that Sorenson accepted secret payments ($ 133,000 from the Bachmann and Paul campaigns) while serving as a state official. He said those who abuse positions of public trust for personal gain face serious consequences, in order to deter misconduct and promote public trust.
Otherwise, he warned, “political corruption will slowly corrode the foundations of our democracy until it collapses under its own weight.”
The White House said in a statement that the pardons for Tate and Benton were supported by Paul’s son, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, and Lee Goodman, former chairman of the Federal Elections Commission, who said the ” reports of rape were unclear and not well established. ” An appeals court that upheld their convictions in 2018 rejected that argument.
Neither Sorenson nor Kesari received pardons, but Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds restored Sorenson’s right to vote and hold public office earlier this year.
