Louisiana Voice

Just last month LouisianaVoice posted a LENGTHY STORY about some of the drug dealers, con men and insurrectionists to whom Donald Trump has issued pardons. Those pardons, by the way, did far more than to prevent prison sentences from being posed. They wiped out hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution the perpetrators had been ordered to pay, leaving their victims holding the proverbial bag.

And last January, we ran an earlier story illustrating the Oval Office Don had exceeded in just the first 10 months of his second term the TOTAL NUMBER OF PARDONS (1600) issued by six presidents in the 44 previous years (1420).

Now, Newsweek has today published an eye-opening story about some of the recipients of those pardons who have quickly become REPEAT OFFENDERS after walking out of prison, courtesy of the Felon-in-Chief.

No fewer than 20 individuals whom TACO Don pardoned have been arrested for new crimes, some of whom have been charged with violent crimes.

But considering Trump has more screws loose than a hardware story in an earthquake (apologies to Foghorn Leghorn—the cartoon character, not Sen. John Kennedy), it somehow isn’t at all surprising that like so many of his other ventures—tariffs, invasion of Iran, casinos, hotels, airlines, universities, reflecting pool, ballroom, etc.—these pardons would blow up in his face.

I mean, really, has any other self-styled genius ever in recorded history experienced such a consistent string of abject failure as Donald J. Trump? Seriously, this is a guy who wanted to inject disinfectant to combat a pandemic, to nuke hurricanes, who believes George Washington’s Air Force won the War of 1812, that the flu pandemic of 1917 ended World War II and who had no clue of the significance of the USS Arizona when he visited Pearl Harbor.

And yet…and yet, the MAGGOTS love him. Fully 30 percent of Americans continue to believe he can do no wrong. Go figure.

At any rate, here is Newweek’s list of 20 pardon recipients who have been returned to the pokey, along with the new entries on their rap sheets:

Jon Ponder: a three-time felon was arrested Tuesday of this week on one count of sexual assault, seven counts of unauthorized custodial contact, one count of attempted coercion and 11 gross misdemeanor charges,

Andrew Paul Johnson: a Jan. 6 rioter was convicted of child molestation in February 2026. He was later sentenced to life in prison. Johnson’s criminal conduct occurred both before and after his pardon.

Ryan Nchols: another Jan. 6 rioter in May was charged with deadly conduct and harassment after allegedly threatening an individual with a gun outside, of all places, a church.

Zachary Alam: yet another Jan. 6 participant was pardoned and later arrested for home invasion. He was subsequently convicted of grand larceny and burglary.

Andrew Taake: convicted and later pardoned for assaulting police officers in the Jan. 6 “tour” of the Capitol, he was arrested in February 2025 for online solicitation of a minor in Texas.

Edward Kelley: a former Marine pardoned for his role in the Capitol riot, was sentenced to life in prison in July 2025 for plotting the murder of FBI agents who had investigated him.

Emily Hernandez: photographed holding then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s nameplate, later arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison for a fatal DUI crash in January 2022.

Daniel Ball: allegedly threw an explosive device at officers on Jan. 6, was later charged with illegally possessing a gun as a felon.

David Daniel: convicted as a Jan. 6 rioter and pardoned, was indicted in October 2024 for production/possession of child pornography and sexual assault of a minor.

Shane Jason Woods: Jan. 6 rioter was convicted and sentenced to 17 years in prison for aggravated DUI and reckless homicide in a wrong-way crash.

Theodore Middendorf: another (can you believe it?) Jan. 6 Capitol rioter currently serving a 19-year sentence for sexual assault of a seven-year-old child.

Taylor Taranto: still another Jan. 6 participant subsequently arrested and convicted of making a bomb threat near the home of former President Barack Obama.

Brent John Holdridge: yep, another veteran of Jan. 6 gathering, arrested in May 2025 for burglary/grand theft and possession of industrial wire.

Jonathan Graun: pardoned from a 10-year sentence for drugs and money laundering, he later violated terms of his supervised release and was found guilty of multiple charges, including forcible touching and sexual abuse. Sentenced to 27 months in prison.

Eliyahu Weinstein: received commutation of his 24-year sentence for a real estate scheme, but got right back on that horse and four years later was convicted of defrauding investors in a brand-new scam of about $35 million. He was sentenced to 37 years in federal prison. (Sharp observers will note that he received a longer sentence than Middendorf who sexually assaulted a seven-year-old child).

John Andries: convicted in connection to his activities on Jan. 6, he was convicted in 2025 of violating a peace order for following the mother of his child and was sentenced to 60 days in jail and three years of unsupervised probation.

Bryan Betancur Battisti: another (yawn) Jan. 6 rioter, was arrested for violating an anti-stalking order and arrested again for filming himself while allegedly touching women in public.

Ryan Yates: yep, a Jan. 6 tourist, was later arrested in a Florida undercover prostitution sting.

Christopher Moynihan: Capitol rioter pleaded guilty last February to making death threats against House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Daniel Tocci: pardoned by Trump for his Jan. 6 activities, convicted and sentenced to four years in prison in March for possession of more than 100,000 child sexual abuse images and videos.

Of the 20 pardons listed above, 17 of the 20 were granted to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the U.S. Capitol.

Even more significant, of the 20, eight (Johnson, Taake, Daniel, Middendorf, Graun, Battisti, Yates and Tucci) were later rearrested for sexual offenses. Five of those involved offenses against children (Johnson, Taake, Daniel, Middendorf and Tucci).

Perhaps Trump felt a certain empathy for those.