Ben Chavis speaks at a news conference in 1978 the day after Gov. Jim Hunt's decision to reduce the sentences of the Wilmington 10. Hunt refused to pardon the group. Governor: He was embarrassed, he still is FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2016 file photo, then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is joined by Joe Arpaio, the sheriff of metro Phoenix, at a campaign event in Marshalltown, Iowa. Trump was just a few weeks into his candidacy in 2015 when came to Phoenix for a speech that ended up being a bigger moment in his campaign than most people realized at the time. And now Trump is coming back to Arizona at another crucial moment in his presidency. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File) Scooter Libby arrives on December 3, 2015, during a dedication ceremony hosted by the US Senate at Emancipation Hall of the US Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, DC. The ceremony unveiled a bust of former US Vice President Dick Cheney, who as vice president, also served as President of the Senate. AFP PHOTO/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images) President Donald Trump speaks during a ceremonial swearing in for new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department, Wednesday, May 2, 2018, in Washington. (AP/Evan Vucci) BOONE, IA - JANUARY 4: Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) visits King's Christian Bookstore on January 4, 2016 in Boone, Iowa. Cruz began a six-day bus tour of Iowa ahead of the state's February 1, caucuses. (Photo by Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images) President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with Joshua Holt, who was recently released from a prison in Venezuela, in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, May 26, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) Dinesh D'souza speaks at CPAC 2016 conference, March 5, 2016 in National Harbor, Maryland to promote his new film called The Secret History Of The Democratic Party (Photo by Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto) (Photo by NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images) (CNN) — President Donald Trump announced unexpectedly Thursday that he is granting a full pardon to Dinesh D’Souza, the conservative author and filmmaker who pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance laws in 2014 after he was indicted earlier that year on charges that he illegally used straw donors to contribute to Republican Senate candidate Wendy Long in New York in 2012. “Will be giving a Full Pardon to Dinesh D’Souza today. He was treated very unfairly by our government!” Trump tweeted. Trump, who signed the paperwork formally pardoning D’Souza before announcing it on Twitter, had never met or spoken with D’Souza before this week. He told reporters aboard Air Force One Thursday that he called him for the first time Wednesday night to inform him that he would be pardoning him. The two spoke for nearly three minutes, according to the President. “He almost had a heart attack,” Trump said. In a tweet celebrating his pardon, D’Souza said “(President Barack) Obama & his stooges tried to extinguish my American dream & destroy my faith in America. Thank you @realDonaldTrump for fully restoring both(. )” Obama & his stooges tried to extinguish my American dream & destroy my faith in America. Thank you @realDonaldTrump for fully restoring both — Dinesh D'Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 31, 2018 Though Trump said no one had asked him to pardon D’Souza, a source familiar with how things unfolded told CNN that Sen. Ted Cruz, among others, personally lobbied him to consider doing so. I want to thank @realDonaldTrump for giving my husband a pardon but I particularly want to thank @SenTedCruz for putting it on his radar and helping make it happen! So grateful! #DineshDsouzaPardon — Debbie D'Souza (@Debber66) May 31, 2018 D’Souza’s wife confirmed Cruz’s role on Twitter. “I want to thank @realDonaldTrump for giving my husband a pardon but I particularly want to thank @SenTedCruz for putting it on his radar and helping make it happen! So grateful!” Debbie D’Souza tweeted. The official White House statement on D’Souza’s pardon said he was, in the President’s opinion, “a victim of selective prosecution for violations of campaign finance laws.” “Mr. D’Souza accepted responsibility for his actions, and also completed community service by teaching English to citizens and immigrants seeking citizenship. In light of these facts, the President has determined that Mr. D’Souza is fully worthy of this pardon,” the statement said. Trump said Thursday that he is also considering pardoning Martha Stewart and pardoning or commuting the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Both were stars with Trump on NBC’s “The Apprentice” franchise. The President told reporters that Blagojevich had said something “stupid” but that it was similar to what other politicians have said and called the 18-year sentence “really unfair.” He added that “plenty of other politicians could have said a lot worse.” D’Souza was sentenced to five years of probation, including eight months living under supervision in a halfway house and a $30,000 fine. “I knew that causing a campaign contribution to be made in the name of another was wrong and something the law forbids,” D’Souza had said at his plea hearing. “I deeply regret my conduct.” D’Souza is a contentious figure who once accused then-President Barack Obama of adopting “the cause of anti-colonialism” from his Kenyan father in a 2010 Forbes magazine cover story when Obama was in office. In the piece, he referred to Obama’s father as a “philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anticolonial ambitions.” He also once argued that Adolf Hitler was not “anti-gay.” “Dinesh D’Souza is an individual who, you know, has made restitution and accepted responsibility for his actions, but these are infractions and crimes that are rarely prosecuted, and many believe that he was the subject of some selective prosecution from the previous administration,” White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah said on Fox News Thursday. “Nonetheless, he’s accepted responsibility and the President believes it’s appropriate that he receive a pardon after community service, paying a fine, and doing other things that the judge has required,” Shah said. D’Souza once called on comedienne Rosie O’Donnell to be prosecuted for violating campaign finance laws in a fashion similar to his case. A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed Thursday that Trump’s pardon of D’Souza did not go through the department’s Office of Pardon Attorney. In the past, the Office of the Pardon Attorney has assisted the White House on clemency petitions – though it is not constitutionally required. Fantastic news @DineshDSouza to be pardoned by @POTUS. Obama's political prosecution null and void. pic.twitter.com/Wmaqkh4tkj — Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) May 31, 2018 Fox News host and former judge Jeanine Pirro called D’Souza’s pardon “fantastic news.” “Obama’s political prosecution null and void,” she added. Preet Bharara, who brought charges against D’Souza when he was US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, asserted that there was no unfairness in the case. The President has the right to pardon but the facts are these: D'Souza intentionally broke the law, voluntarily pled guilty, apologized for his conduct & the judge found no unfairness. The career prosecutors and agents did their job. Period. https://t.co/bA3I8vs4QQ via @politico — Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) May 31, 2018 “The President has the right to pardon but the facts are these: D’Souza intentionally broke the law, voluntarily pled guilty, apologized for his conduct & the judge found no unfairness. The career prosecutors and agents did their job. Period,” Bharara, a CNN senior legal analyst, tweeted, along with a link to D’Souza’s guilty plea. Though past presidents have waited until the end of their term for controversial pardons, Trump has granted clemency to four people during his first 16 months in office. His pardons include former Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in an investigation into leaking the identity of a CIA officer, and former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt in a case related to his hard-line tactics with undocumented immigrants. The President did not use the Office of the Pardon Attorney for the pardons for Arpaio or Libby.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON — Dinesh D’Souza, the conservative author and filmmaker pardoned by President Trump, claimed victory on Friday over what he characterized as a political prosecution by the administration of President Barack Obama. In terms that evidently resonated with Mr. Trump, who is aggrieved about investigations that he blames on his predecessor, Mr. D’Souza presented himself as a victim of selective justice, hounded by Mr. Obama’s attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., and the United States attorney in New York, Preet Bharara, because he made a movie sharply critical of Mr. Obama. “What happened here is Obama and his team, Eric Holder, Preet Bharara in New York, these guys decided to make an example of me, and I think that the reason for this was Obama’s anger over my movie that I made about him,” Mr. D’Souza said on “Fox and Friends,” one of Mr. Trump’s favorite shows. “And so, this was a vindictive political hit that was kind of aimed at putting me out of business, essentially making — destroying my credibility, making it impossible for me to make movies, write books, and that since has failed. But it still left a cloud over me,” he added. “I would be a lifelong felon. I would never be able to vote and never have my full rights.”<doc-sep>"The heart of Trumpism is not any policy but performative cruelty, inflicting maximum harm on those outside the tribal fold, and extending the benefits of power and the powers of state for those inside the fold," writes Josh Marshall, editor of the liberal website Talking Points Memo. "D'Souza is a loyalist so he gets rewarded with the prerogative power at the president's discretion. The rationale isn't legal. It is not in spite of but because of D'Souza's racism and aggression. It is as simple as that."<doc-sep>
His ascent to political prominence began in college. Born and raised in India, Mr. D’Souza attended Dartmouth College and was among the first editors of The Dartmouth Review, a conservative campus newspaper. The publication stirred uproars on campus during and after his stint as editor. After graduating in 1983, he worked at Policy Review, a conservative journal in Washington. He worked for the Reagan administration as an adviser in 1988. He has written more than a dozen books. His first, “Illiberal Education,” was published in 1991, lifting him to national notoriety with his criticism of political correctness on college campuses. He attracted criticism from liberals and conservatives alike in 2007 for “The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11.” Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times wrote that “this embarrassing volume is an out-and-out partisan screed made up of illogical arguments, distorted and cherry-picked information, ridiculous generalizations and nutty asides.” D’Souza has been a fierce Obama critic. Mr. D’Souza, a frequent guest on Fox News and conservative radio, has often singled out President Barack Obama for criticism. His 2010 book, “The Roots of Obama’s Rage,” argued that Mr. Obama was carrying out the anticolonial agenda of his Kenyan father. A 2010 Forbes cover article by Mr. D’Souza that discredited Mr. Obama’s American identity was praised by Newt Gingrich as “stunningly insightful,” and criticized by an editor at The Columbia Journalism Review as “the worst kind of smear journalism.” Mr. D’Souza’s 2012 film, “2016: Obama’s America,” was one of the highest-grossing political documentaries of all time, behind only Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Four years later, he came back with another documentary, “Hillary’s America.”