President Trump announces latest pardons
WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - A former sheriff has been spared a prison term, which was set to begin Tuesday, as President Donald Trump pardoned him.
It took a rural Virginia jury, in the heart of Trump country, just two hours to convict former Sheriff Scott Jenkins, a longtime, vocal Trump supporter, of federal bribery and fraud charges in December for accepting tens of thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for badges for wealthy businessmen.
Prosecutors argued some of the exchanges of cash were caught on video from people who paid to be deputized for the following perks: To skip the TSA line, get earlier access to the COVID-19 vaccine, avoid getting traffic tickets, and in one case, to help a felon get his gun rights back.
President Trump announced the pardon on Memorial Day, one day before Jenkins was to begin serving a 10-year prison term, arguing the case was mishandled by a "Biden judge" and a weaponized Justice Department.
Liz Oyer was fired as U.S. Pardon Attorney in March after a disagreement over a case, she says.
"The people who are getting pardons are not going through the traditional application process. They seem to be people who have figured out how to access side channels or back channels or how to approach the president with," Oyer explained.
A CBS News review of pardon applications show, as of May 1, none had been submitted by Jenkins.
When asked what the danger is, Oyer said, "The danger of granting clemency to people in this manner is that it threatens to upend ongoing prosecutions by the Department of Justice. It threatens to delegitimize the prosecutorial institutions that we have historically relied on."
The White House didn't immediately respond to requests for comment about these criticisms for the pardon.
However, the president unveiling more pardons, saying he issued pardons for Todd and Julie Chrisley, reality TV stars convicted of fraud and tax evasion, whose daughter spoke at last year's Republican National Convention.
In addition, CBS News says Trump pardoned former New York Congressman Michael Grimm, who was convicted of tax evasion back in 2014, Wednesday.
To learn more about Grimm's pardon, click here.
