Louisiana Voice

Among the many self-perpetuated myths of Donald J. Trump, the Grand Pooh-bah of Superficial Unctuousness, is his oft-repeated claim of being pro-law and order, tough-on-crime and otherwise a harsh opponent of those who would scheme to lie, cheat, steal, scam, defraud, riot, deal drugs or otherwise harm the American citizenry.

The truth is far different as evidence by his disdain for the Capital Police officers injured in the invasion of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, or by his propensity to pardon or commute the sentences of the very ones who have committed of any of the aforementioned atrocities.

One of those Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump subsequently was arrested of her threat to kill Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.

In other words, like the claim of stolen elections, a “vandalized” Reflecting Pool, the Epstein files, his IQ, weight, tax returns, grades at Wharton and literally everything else, he lies.

And just as all his other lies are so easily refuted by the record—with the exceptions being his tax returns, his grades and the Epstein files, all of which he stubbornly refuses to release—his dedication to law and order is easy to debunk, perhaps even easier.

The sad truth is Trump is not only a serial liar; he also is a willing participant in a major criminal enterprise—an abettor, an accomplice.

Take for example Ross Ulbricht, Larry Hoover, Garnett Gilbert Smith and Juan Orlando Hernández. Even as his administration was bombing boats he accused of smuggling drugs, he was granting pardons to Silk Road founder Ulbricht who was convicted of creating the largest online black market of its time for illicit goods, including illegal drugs; Chicago gang leader Hoover, Baltimore drug kingpin Smith and Honduran president Hernández who had received a 45-year prison sentence for running a widespread “narco-state” in his native Honduras that helped to move some 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S.

As for the victims of criminal activity, there is this: Last December, Mr. Law and Order pardoned convicted securities and wire fraudster Tervor Milton. It’s bad enough Milton had received only a four-year federal prison sentence, a sentence for which he never served a day, but the $660 million in restitution to defrauded investors prosecutors had requested was wiped clean in a single stroke of Trump’s Sharpie. Milton and his wife, by the way, donated more than $2.5 to Trump’s campaign but insisted he did nothing wrong.

Trevor Milton

But it was the pardon of ADAM KIDAN, a former business partner of Abramoff, who seems to have flown under the radar. Kidan pleaded guilty in 2005 to fraud and conspiracy in connection with his purchase of a fleet of gambling boars which was connected in turn to a wider investigation of the lobbying scandal involving Abramoff, the Interior Department of members of President George W. Bush’s administration. The following year, he was sentenced to almost six years in prison. Kidan, was released from prison in 2009 and last March, he was among the hosts of a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, which was probably a mere coincidence.

Milton wasn’t the only beneficiary of Trump’s compassion that not only restored their civil rights after imprisonment or allowed them to avoid prison altogether, but who also were allowed to walk away from tens of millions of dollars in financial penalties. Marian Morgan was one of those. He was sentenced to nearly 34 years in prison in 2013 for running a Ponzi scheme and was ordered to repay $17.5 to investors. Trump commuted her sentence “to time served with no further fines, restitution, probation or other conditions.”

Earlier this month, on July 5, Trump issued pardons to a former partner of lobbyist/swindler Jack Abramoff and nine others convicted of violating vehicle emissions controls but who Trump said were merely trying to “repair their automobiles.”

But it was the pardon of ADAM KIDAN, a former business partner of Abramoff, who seems to have flown under the radar. Kidan pleaded guilty in 2005 to fraud and conspiracy in connection with his purchase of a fleet of gambling boars which was connected in turn to a wider investigation of the lobbying scandal involving Abramoff, the Interior Department of members of President George W. Bush’s administration. The following year, he was sentenced to almost six years in prison. Kidan, was released from prison in 2009 and last March, he was among the hosts of a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, which was probably a mere coincidence.

Paul Walezak was a health care executive who was ordered to pay more than $4 million to the IRS after he pleaded guilty to tax crimes. His pardon miraculously came through only 12 days after his sentencing, relieving him of the obligation of his plea bargain agreement.

There is also Leonard Glenn “Fat Leonard” Francis, the con man who plied Naval personnel with booze, bribes and prostitutes on the way to defrauding U.S. taxpayers of $35 million before fleeing the country only to be recaptured. Now, he’s asking for a pardon. The Justice Department has opposed his overtures but with Trump in the Oval Office, don’t be surprised if DOJ has a sudden change of heart.

Besides the damaged inflicted on the victims who, with the pardons, lost all hope of ever recovering any of their investments, there is the cost that went into the process of investigating and prosecuting the criminals only to see Trump award them with a Get Out of Jail Free card as if he were playing a high-stakes game of Monopoly.

After an investment of hours spent prepping witnesses in a case against Culpeper County, Virginia, Sheriff Scott Jenkins for accepting $75,000 in bribes from wealthy business owners and undercover agents, Trump pardoned him one day before he was scheduled to begin his sentence and the restitution he had been ordered to pay was…you guess it, eliminated.

Nursing home magnate Joseph Schwartz pleaded guilty to failure to pay more than $38 million in employment taxes and then laundering the money by moving it from account to account after an extensive investigation into his complicated case. He was sentenced to three years—another slap on the wrist– only to have Trump to wipe out the investment of time and money when he pardoned Schwartz and a host of other criminals, many of whom were politically connected.

In Schwartz’s case, $960,000 paid to two lobbyists to advocate for a pardon, may have greased the skids just a little, though Trump, of course, denied any such link.

Former U.S. pardon attorney Liz Oyer, who was fired by Trump, said there was concern that there is “a special tier of justice for people who can afford to pay.”

“The president has the authority to grant a pardon, but when you have a strong case, and it is a good case, and you are holding elected officials accountable for wrongdoing, it is frustrating,” said prosecutor Melanie Smith 

Complex cases can take years to investigate before charges are filed. Prosecutors interview dozens of witnesses before grand juries to build their cases. Typically, years can pass before those cases reach a trial date. Once the trial date arrives, prosecutors may spend upward of 80 hours a week preparing witnesses and getting exhibits ready. A lengthy trial can involve more than 1,000 exhibits that need to be prepped and reviewed.

“To bring a case to trial is just an incredible effort and use of department resources,” John Keller, the former acting head of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, said. “There’s an intensity of experience and effort and emotion that doesn’t come at any other stage of the case. It’s the pinnacle of the practice.”

All that expense and preparation appear to matter little to Trump who somehow saw fit to even issued a commutation of sentence of disgraced former congressman George Santos (R-New York), who was expelled from the House after being accused of financial misconduct and for spewing an endless stream of lies about his background. He was sentenced to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges of aggravated identity theft and wire fraud. He served less than three months of his sentence before Trump, describing him as “somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” ordered his release.

And then there are the brothers Andrew and Tristen Tate, mysteriously pardoned from sex trafficking charges in Romania. Though Trump was not the one who issued the pardons of the two, a pair of New York Times reporters quoted a text message by Andrew Tate from Jan. 14, 2025 in which he said, “I had word from the Trump admin that theyre on top of things. Ive been told ill be free soon but Trump needs to see me in Miami.

The very next month, The Times reporters wrote, “an extraordinary order came down from the highest levels of the Romanian government. The prosecutors were told to find a compromise with the Tates. Despite their misgivings, they lifted the travel restrictions, a move that Romania’s prime minister thought would appease the Trump administration.”

In his current term of office, Trump granted executive clemency to more than 1700 INDIVIDUALS charged or convicted of federal criminal offenses. That number includes some 1,500 persons arrested and charged in the Jan. 6 coup attempt but does not include those arrested in connection with alleged vandalism of the Reflecting Pool. It also does not include new reporters and others who have been subpoenaed because Trump was pissed at something said or written.

When all is said and done, the bottom line is:

• If you can still support those who have defrauded widows and other innocent investors of hundreds of millions of dollars;
• If you can overlook the pardoning of sex traffickers;
• If you can look the other way as drug kingpins go free;
• If you still insist on saying, “But whatabout Obama or whatabout Biden…

…then you are no better than the very worst traits of a ruthless tyrant named Donald Trump and it is you who is afflicted with TDS.