In a new controversial move, Donald Trump has granted a presidential pardon to Scott Howard Jenkins, the former sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia, who was sentenced in March to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of accepting more than $75,000 in bribes.
Jenkins was also convicted of accepting illegal campaign contributions in exchange for appointing individuals as deputy sheriffs in his department. Three of the people who paid the bribes had already admitted guilt in the case.
However, in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump defended Jenkins, calling him a “wonderful person” and claimed he was a victim of President Biden’s overreaching Department of Justice.
“This sheriff is a victim of Biden’s overreaching Justice Department and does not deserve to spend a single day in prison,” Trump wrote. “He was persecuted by the monsters of the radical left and left to die.”
